Survivors recount Jolo carnage

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — Death and destruction came like a bolt of lightning to a group of soldiers after a suicide bombing attack – the first of two on the same day – by an Islamic militant at a marketplace in downtown Jolo before noon on Monday.

Two of the five wounded troopers taken to Camp Navarro General Hospital (CNGH) at Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) headquarters said they were in a military truck on a brief stopover outside Paradise Food Place on Serantes street, Barangay Walled City, to pick up supplies when a powerful blast rocked the area.

The injured soldiers belong to the 21st Infantry Battalion based in Barangay Danag, Patikul town.

Cpl. Jeric Gil Villaruz said yesterday he was still aboard the military truck when a loud explosion rocked the vehicle.

“I was extending my right arm to reach and load the goods when there was a sudden explosion. I was hit in my palm and upper part of my arm near the armpit,” Villaruz said.

He said that when the smoke cleared he saw the bloodied and mangled bodies of his fellow troopers strewn all over the place.

Cpl. Jesus Genora, on the other hand, said he was standing on the side of the building securing his comrades when the attack occurred.

Genora said shrapnel hit his upper right leg but he managed to run inside the building expecting a possible secondary explosion.

He said he did not see the bomber as they had arrived in the area just a minute earlier.

One of the fatalities, he said, was their supply officer whom he described as a good soldier. The two soldiers said their commanders had warned them to be always on alert for suicide bombers, and to avoid lingering in an area.

“There were more than 20 of us who went downtown. We couldn’t go with fewer men for security reasons and because we had to pick up a huge volume of supplies,” Villaruz said,

Police forensic investigators are looking at two suicide bombers as those behind the separate explosions in Jolo that left at least 14 soldiers and civilians killed, and 78 others injured.

Investigators also clarified an earlier report that the suspect or suspects used a motorcycle rigged with explosives to carry out the attack.

“Apparently, it did not come from the motorcycle which was just in the proximity,” Army chief Lt. Cirilito Sobejana said, citing witnesses accounts as well as images captured on CCTVs.

Brig. Gen. William Gonzales, the new commander of Joint Task Force Sulu (JTFS) and 11th Infantry Division, said the first explosion was a suicide attack, based on initial findings. The suspect was blown to pieces and could no longer be recognized.

There was visual identification of the second bomber prior to the attack, which took place almost an hour later outside a Development Bank of the Philippines branch.

Jolo Mayor Kherkar Tan said the owner of the wrecked motorcycle found in the vicinity of the Jolo market came out to belie reports that it was his motorcycle that was used by the suicide bomber.

“If you come to think of it, if that was used in the bombing it would have been obliterated and thrown away, but the motorcycle was left standing,” Tan said.

“However, we have to wait for the investigation of the SOCO,” Tan added.

As this developed, Tan said local officials would meet to discuss reported recommendation of the Army chief to place again Sulu under martial law to address the terror threat.