MARAWI, Philippines – Authorities are investigating at least four terrorist group leaders believed to be responsible for the bombing that killed four Catholic mass-goers and injured nearly four dozen others at the Ali Dimaporo gym of the state-run Mindanao State University (MSU) on Sunday, December 3.

Lieutenant General William Gonzales, the military’s top commander in Western Mindanao, said the bombing was believed to be the handiwork of at least four men, all of them serving as leaders of the Dawlah Islamiyah-Maute Group.

“We believe that the four were in constant communication with each other in planning the attack,” Gonzales said on Monday, December 4.

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Government troops have initiated a manhunt for the four terrorists, all based in Lanao del Sur.

An earlier Rappler report identified a “person of interest,” Khadafi Mimbesa, also known as “Engineer” and who uses the aliases Kadi and Akoya.

Mimbesa, hailing from Masiu town in Lanao del Sur, has been alleged to be a bomber who holds a sub-leadership position within the Dawlah Islamiyah-Maute Group in Lanao del Sur.

Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. said they are investigating exactly how the group linked up with the dreaded Islamic State (ISIS), which claimed responsibility for Sunday’s deadly attack.

Authorities said the bomb attack was likely a response to the government’s offensives against ISIS-inspired terrorist groups in various parts of the Bangsamoro region.

At least 150 police officers were deployed to secure and conduct patrol operations within the vast MSU campus in Marawi, according to Brigadier General Allan Nobleza, director of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. 

Nobleza emphasized the importance of making students and teachers feel secure inside the MSU campus, instructing the police officers sent to the MSU, “Your first duty is to protect and restore the confidence of the students and the teachers.”

Despite the heightened security alert level at MSU, more students continued to leave the campus, mostly at the urging of their parents who fear an escalation of violence in the state-owned campus and Marawi, a city devastated in 2017 by a five-month military campaign aimed at quelling the Maute Group.

Despite calls from university officials for students to stay due to upcoming examinations, several local governments from different cities and provinces in Mindanao sent vehicles to safely bring MSU students home. – Rappler.com