THE police are not closing the case of the bombing at Lim Ket Kai row of restaurants that killed eight persons and wounded 46 others in July 26, 2013.
Superintendent Lemuel Gonda, chief operations officer of the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office, said they are not yet closing the case despite the recent deaths of bomb makers Zulkifli bin Hir and Abdulasit Usman.
Bin Hir also known as “Marwan” and Usman were killed in a series of military operations in Mamasapano town in Maguindanao province this year.
“The case is still active. The court has issued warrants of arrests against the suspects in the Lim Ket Kai bombing,” Gonda said.
Gonda said they are still looking for Usman Hapids, alias Man-man, and five others including a female companion believed to be members of the Khilafa Islamiyah Mindanao, an obscure group linked to the al-Qaeda.
He said Hapids has gone underground and could not be found after a local court issued warrants of arrests against the suspects for multiple counts of murder and multiple counts of frustrated murder.
The Philippine Army conducted several raids to look for Hapids and the other suspects in Lanao del Sur but came back empty-handed.