Philippine authorities yesterday blamed Muslim militants for the bombing of a night market in Davao City that killed at least 14 people.
An improvised explosive device tore through the bustling market in the heart of the city, close to one of its top hotels, just before 11pm on Friday.
Authorities said the Abu Sayyaf, a band of militants that has declared allegiance to the Islamic State group, most likely carried out the attack in response to a military offensive launched against it last week.
Photo: Reuters
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman Martin Andanar said Duterte believed the militants were behind the blast.
“The office of the president texted and confirmed that was an Abu Sayyaf retaliation. For the city government side, we are working on that it is an Abu Sayyaf retaliation,” Davao Mayor Sara Duterte, who is also the president’s daughter, told CNN Philippines.
Philippine Secretary of National Defense Delfin Lorenzana said the Abu Sayyaf had struck back after sustaining heavy casualties on its stronghold of Jolo Island about 900km from Davao.
Duterte, who was in Davao at the time of the attack, but not near the market, told reporters before dawn yesterday that it was an act of terrorism as he announced extra powers for the military.
Duterte declared a “state of lawlessness” that covered the Mindanao region.
He said it did not amount to an imposition of martial law, but would allow troops to be deployed in urban centers to back up the police in setting up checkpoints and increasing patrols.
Police said that at least 14 people were killed and 67 were wounded in the explosion.
Sixteen of the injured were in critical condition, a local hospital director told reporters.
Durian vendor Maribel Tabalwon, 34, told reporters that chaos broke out after the blast.
She helped rescue three people, but one of them, a woman who was seven months pregnant, died.
“The blast was so loud the ground shook. She was crawling, but she was lucky enough no one trampled her during the stampede. She was shaking and bleeding,” Tabalwon said.
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