Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 1) — The military on Wednesday refused to acknowledge the claim of the Islamic State group or ISIS that it was responsible for the car bomb attack in Lamitan, Basilan that killed 10 people.
"Any terrorist group or organization can conveniently claim responsibility and ride on the incident for their own glorification. Jumping into it will be like aiding their narrative and lending themselves (the people) as instruments of terrorists' propaganda," the Armed Forces of the Philippines said in a statement.
ISIS, through a statement carried by its news agency, claimed responsibility for the Tuesday "suicide bombing" attack.
AFP Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Carlito Galvez clarified that 10 people were killed in the blast, not 11 as earlier reported.
He said one soldier, four government militiamen, four relatives of paramilitary members, and the suspect who drove the van were killed when homemade bombs packed inside a car exploded at a security checkpoint in Lamitan, Basilan. Officials earlier reported five militiamen were killed.
Related: Military suspects Abu Sayyaf behind blast that killed 11 people in Basilan
AFP Spokesperson Colonel Edgard Arevalo said they were not discounting the possibility that either ISIS or the Abu Sayyaf Group was responsible for the attack.
Arevalo earlier said that based on intelligence reports, authorities suspect that the group of ASG senior leader Furuji Indama was behind the attack.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana,meanwhile, cautioned against calling the attack the handiwork of a foreign terrorist or a lone-wolf attacker.
"I enjoin everyone not to jump to any conclusion and just allow our investigators to do their job. (It is) now the subject of an investigation being conducted by a joint team of the AFP and PNP," he said in a statement.
http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2018/08/01/Basilan-blast-car-bomb-explosion-ISIS.html
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