At least 18 people died Sunday in a double bombing against Jolo Cathedral, on an island in the southern Philippines that remains a bastion of the Islamist organization Abu Sayyaf.
This attack came two days after the announcement of the massive approval, in a referendum last Monday, of the creation in the south of the archipelago Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, in the framework of the peace process with the Muslim insurrection.
The first bomb exploded during Mass inside the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, located in the center of Jolo, the largest city on the island of the same name, told AFP. Lieutenant-Colonel Gerry Besana, Regional Spokesman for the Army. A second explosion occurred outside, on the parking lot, when the soldiers arrived.
Five soldiers, a member of the coastguard and 12 civilians were killed in the double bombing, which also left 83 injured, Besana said.
Regional police chief Graciano Mijares reported 20 dead and 81 wounded. The second bomb was in the trunk of a motorcycle parked outside the building.
The authorities said the attack could be carried out by the Islamist group Abu Sayyaf.
"When you talk about terrorism in Sulu province, the first suspect is still Abu Sayyaf but we can not rule out the possibility of other officials," Besana said.
The island of Jolo is indeed one of the main bastions of Abu Sayyaf. Specialized in villainous kidnappings, this organization is also accused of the worst attacks in the archipelago, especially that against a ferry that had killed more than 100 people in 2004.
Abu Sayyaf is an extremist offshoot of the Muslim separatist insurgency. It was created in the 1990s thanks to the financing of a family member of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
Jolo is part of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region whose creation has just been voted on in a referendum.
The establishment of this area in a predominantly Muslim territory - while the archipelago is predominantly Catholic - aims to restore peace after decades of conflict that has left tens of thousands dead.
"Peace must prevail"
Muslims took up arms in the 1970s to claim the autonomy or independence of the southern Philippines, which they regard as their ancestral land. This insurrection killed 150,000 people.
The main rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), signed in 2014 a peace agreement with the government providing for the granting of autonomy to the Muslim minority in parts of the large island of Mindanao and the islands of the extreme southwest.
According to this agreement, 2.8 million inhabitants of this region were called last Monday to vote and 1.7 million voted in favor of the creation of the new autonomous region named Bangsamoro, some 254,600 having voted against, the electoral commission said on Friday.
This process, which began in the 1990s, does not include Islamist organizations like Abu Sayyaf as the Milf fights alongside government forces.
The province of Sulu, to which Jolo belongs, has globally voted against the creation of the new region.
"Peace must prevail over war," said National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, who blamed the attack on "extremist criminals".
"We will not let them spoil the people's desire for peace," he said.
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