Philippine Leader condemns bombarding killing over 4, attributes it to “foreign terrorists”

(MENAFN) Philippine Leader Ferdinand Marcos Jr denounced a fatal bombarding on Sunday, accusing “foreign terrorists,” as police and the army boosted security in the nation’s south as well as around the capital Manila.

More than 4 people were murdered and over 50 wounded following a bomb blasted in a morning Catholic Mass in a university gymnasium in Marawi, a town in the south of the nation seized by Islamist militants for five months in 2017.

“I condemn in the strongest possible terms the senseless and most heinous acts perpetrated by foreign terrorists,” Marcos stated in a declaration. “Extremists who wield violence against the innocent will always be regarded as enemies to our society.”

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro announced during a press conference that law enforcement operations aimed at apprehending those responsible for the "terrorist activity" will “continue unabated.”

There were “strong indications of a foreign element” in the bombarding, Teodoro noted, refusing to go into detail in order to protect the integrity of the ongoing probe.

According to senior police official Emmanuel Peralta, fragments of a 16-mm mortar were found at the location.

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