Roadside blast kills Marine in Mindanao

MANILA: A powerful roadside explosion killed a member of the elite Philippine Marines and wounded four others in Maguindanao province in Mindanao, which a senior military officer denounced on Saturday as an “act of terrorism.”

Citing initial reports, the military said a convoy of Marines was traversing a provincial road along a “barangay” (village) in the town of Datu Hoffer, Maguindanao when an anti-personnel mine exploded on Friday night.

“This horrendous act perpetrated by the terrorists is simply unacceptable. Rest assured that we will use every available resource to bring the perpetrators to justice,” vowed Lieutenant General Corleto Vinluan, the chief of the military’s Western Mindanao Command.

The military said they have yet to identify the perpetrators but the explosion occurred less than a month ater terrorists set off two powerful explosions in the capital town of Jolo on the island province of Sulu on Aug.24.

The twin blasts killed at least 15 people, including soldiers, policemen and civilians, and wounded 75 others. Investigation also indicated that a woman suicide bomber died in the second explosion.

The military blamed members of the Abu Sayyaf terror group that pledged allegiance to the Daesh extremists in the Middle East for the atack.

Regional and Filipino security experts earlier disclosed that they have established the link of the Abu Sayyaf to the Al Qaeda global terror network through the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah militants.

The Abu Sayyaf, meaning “bearer of the sword,” gained international notoriety through a spate of kidnap-for-ransom cases that were oten marred by the beheading of their foreign and Filipino hostages.

The military also blamed the Abu Sayyaf and the Maute Group that also pledged allegiance to the Abu Sayyaf for laying siege on Marawi City in May 2017 that prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to cut short his visit to Russia and proclaim martial law over the whole of restive Mindanao.