THE Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP) are still verifying reports on the alleged presence of Egyptian suicide bombers in the country.
"'Yung sa Egyptian, hindi pa confirm[ed] 'yan (About the Egyptians, that is not confirmed)," Albayalde told reporters.
"Although yes with the past incidents, merong naging foreign nationals na involved sa suicide bombings, di natin mapagkaila na merong foreigners dito sa Pilipinas na puwede pa gumawa na ganon," he added.
(We cannot deny that there are foreigners here in the Philippines who are capable of carrying out bombings.)
For his part, Western Mindanao Command commander Major General Cirilito Sobejana said he ordered his men to verify the report on the ground.
On Tuesday, Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence, and Terrorism president Rommel Banlaoi said an Egyptian couple who were linked to the Indonesian couple behind the Jolo Cathedral bombing in January were in Sulu to carry out another attack mission.
He said both the police and military were aware of the presence of the couple.
Earlier, AFP spokesperson Brigadier General Edgard Arevalo denied Baloi’s claim that they were aware of the Egyptian couple.
"We are in the process of pursuing leads to the perpetrators of the IED explosions in Sulu and Basilan. But we have no report so far pointing to the participation of such Egyptian couple," he said.
On January 27, 23 people were killed and at least 95 others were wounded in an attack at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Jolo, Sulu perpetrated by two suicide bombers, allegedly an Indonesian couple. (SunStar Philippines)