MANILA, June 28 — An explosion at a military base in the Philippines killed three soldiers and wounded nine today, in a region of the country plagued by Islamist violence.
The blast went off at around noon in the Sulu archipelago in the south, which is home to the Abu Sayyaf militant group, a splintered network loyal to Islamic State notorious for kidnapping and piracy.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
“Ground troops continue to establish the circumstances and identify the perpetrators behind this inhumane attack,” Cirilito Sobejana, chief of the Western Mindanao Command, said in a statement.
“We will intensify our offensives to crush terrorist groups.”
The government has blamed militants linked to Abu Sayyaf for the bombing of a church on the island of Jolo, also in the south, in January that killed 21 people and wounded scores.
The government has maintained martial law across the parts of the south to curb Islamic State’s influence and decades of banditry by Abu Sayyaf in an impoverished region that is home to most members of the mainly Catholic country’s Muslim minority. — Reuters
