Hunt on for 2 more suspects in attempted Manila bombing
A member of the Manila Police District bomb squad approaches the remnants of a package containing an improvised explosive device that was safely detonated along Roxas Boulevard in Manila on November 28. AP, file
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police is looking for two more members of a terrorist cell that it said has been operating in Luzon and is behind an attempted bombing in Manila on November 28.
The PNP presented Mohammad Jumao-as, an x-ray technician from Bulacan province, to the media on Wednesday morning.
Chief Superintendent Oscar Albayalde, National Capital Region Police Office director, said that Jumao-as was arrested in the hospital where he works on December 3.
He said that Jumao-as was seen in security footage conducting surveillance in the area where an IED was found a little more than a week ago. Authorities managed to detonate the bomb, which police said was similar to one used in a blast at a night market in Davao City on September 2.
Jumao-as, whom police identified as a "Balik Islam," went into hiding in Bulacan after the foiled bombing.
"Balik Islam" only means that one has converted to Islam or has—as Muslims believe—"returned" to the faith. Islamic scholar and UP professor Julkipli Wadi, in a MindaNews piece in 2014, said the term "implies that those who embrace Islam are actually just returning to the faith" of the pre-colonial settlers of the Philippines.
Police said, however, that Jumao-as was radicalized during his conversion.
Jumao-as belongs to the same cell as Rashid Kilala and Jiaher Guinar, who were arrested on November 30, and who are said to be part of jihadist group Ansar Al-Khalifa Philippines.
Ansar Al-Khalifa Philippines is an ally of the Maute Group, which the Armed Forces of the Philippines has been trying to drive out of Butig town in Lanao del Sur.
"We are still going after two of their members," Albayalde said. He said that one of the cell members has supposedly been recalled to Mindanao because of the military operations in Lanao del Sur.
The other member is believed to be hiding in Metro Manila or in nearby provinces.
The suspects have been members of the terrorist cell for around four years, police said.
The Philippines has been on Terror Alert Level 3 since the foiled bombing. The alert level means there is a strong possibility of an attack happening soon.
The country was placed under a state of national emergency in September in response to the Davao City bombing.
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