EDITORIAL - Under attack

Travel advisories were updated to warn foreigners about fresh security threats in parts of Mindanao following the New Year’s Eve bombing that killed two persons and wounded at least 34 others at a shopping area in Cotabato City.

A local group believed inspired by the terrorist Islamic State is being eyed as the perpetrator of the bombing in front of the South Seas Mall. Police said the improvised explosive device that ripped through market stalls was similar to those used by the local IS affiliate.

When ideologically driven, armed violence can be difficult to stop completely. Security officials had warned that the liberation of Marawi City following a five-month siege in 2017, which ended with the killing of the Maute brothers and Abu Sayyaf commander Isnilon Hapilon, did not eliminate IS-inspired threats in the southern Philippines. The administration considered the threat serious enough to seek a yearlong extension of martial law all over Mindanao.

Remnants of the Maute group and the Abu Sayyaf as well as the separatist breakaway group the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters continue to operate in Mindanao, so sporadic attacks can be expected. All these groups have members trained in bomb making. They have shown a propensity for hitting soft targets such as markets and seaports – the more crowded, the better. The latest attack in Cotabato should lead to intensified operations against these threat groups.

Security forces have been given wide latitude to operate against threat groups, with martial law in Mindanao extended for yet another year, until the end of 2019. The administration has indicated that this time, the principal target of martial law is the neutralization of the communist threat in Mindanao. The attack in Cotabato shows that security forces cannot lose sight of the other threat groups.