18 April 2017•Update: 18 April 2017
By Hader Glang
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
Authorities have arrested two suspected members of the country's one-time largest Moro revolutionary front implicated in Monday night’s twin bombings in southern Philippines that left over a dozen people injured.
Chief Superintendent Raul Supiter, director of Sultan Kudarat Provincial Office, had earlier said the first explosion took place at 6.40 p.m. local time (1040GMT) on the rooftop of a gas station along the national highway in Barangay Isabela, Tacurong City.
Another blast went off just half an hour later in the compound of gas station, which wounded three soldiers and three policemen.
According to Supiter, the government security personnel responded to the first blast within the premises of gas station when another improvised explosive device just few meters away exploded.
The explosions also left nine civilians wounded.
Supiter identified the two suspected Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) members as Juhari Gani and Waren Ganiho.
He said the two had confessed to their being members of the MILF. "There are photo galleries in their mobile phones showing that they are members of the MILF," media outlet Philstar quoted Supiter as saying.
The police official said they will notify the joint government-MILF cease-fire committee of the arrest of the bombing suspects.
Under the July 1997 Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities, the government and the MILF are bound to cooperate in addressing security concerns in conflict and flashpoint areas.
The MILF has been dealing peace with President Rodrigo Duterte since last year for the creation of a new Bangsamoro government unit in the predominantly Moro south that will replace the existing Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
