5 Abus charged for chapel blast

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Police have filed charges against five Abu Sayyaf militants for the Christmas Day bombing of a chapel in a police camp in Jolo, Sulu that left 11 people, including a priest, wounded, a military spokesman said.

Lt. Col. Randolf Cabangbang, spokesman of the Armed Forces’ Western Mindanao Command, said the Sulu police filed charges of multiple frustrated murder and damage to property against the five suspects before the provincial prosecutor’s office.

“The hunt for the suspects has been ongoing since the attack,” Cabangbang said.

Chief Inspector Amil Baanan, acting Sulu police director, identified the suspects as Alhabsy Misaya, Sali Said, and a certain Dodong Tarik, Arola, and Gafur. 

Baanan said witnesses have tagged the five militants as the ones who slipped the bomb into the Sacred Heart Chapel at Camp Asturias and detonated it in the middle of the 7 a.m. Mass.

Brig. Gen. Romy Tanalgo, acting commander of Task Force Comet, said intelligence work has been intensified to track down the suspects and prevent similar bombings in the future.