A FOREIGN-LOOKING militant wearing a traditional black Muslim woman's gown was killed in a suicide bombing attack Sunday, September 8, on a military detachment in Sulu, military officials said.
The suicide attacker tried but failed to enter a detachment in Sulu province's Indanan town and died when a bomb the militant was carrying exploded. It was the third known suicide attack in Sulu this year.
Regional military chief Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana said the bomber failed to enter the detachment due to tight security.
A military spokesman in Sulu, Lt. Col. Gerard Monfort, said by phone that troops took cover and assumed combat positions, some behind sand bags, when the militant refused to step away from the outpost's gate and carried something that bulged in the bomber's gown.
"A wary soldier yelled at the militant to 'go away, go away' and other soldiers who heard him took cover and assumed combat positions," Monfort said. "Then an explosion killed the militant."
The blast damaged the detachment's gate but did not cause any other deaths or injuries, Monfort said, adding that there were no civilians in the rural area at the time.
It was the third known suicide bombing this year by militants linked to the Islamic State group in Sulu, including a deadly January 27 bombing by an Indonesian militant couple at the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Cathedral in Jolo, a Roman Catholic cathedral in the predominantly Muslim province.
All the suicide attacks were blamed by the military on the Abu Sayyaf, a small but brutal group that has been the target of ongoing military offensives. The Abu Sayyaf has been blacklisted by the U.S. and the Philippines as a terrorist organization. (AP)