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Philippine Army Lieutenant-Colonel Jonas Templo said that an improvised explosive had exploded in the early hours of the morning, in the Sitio Maganda neighborhood of Lamitan, a town in Basilan province.
Jim Salliman, governor of Basilan, said injured by the attack, who used a van and targeted a checkpoint held by a geographic unit of the Armed Forces of Citizens (CAFGU) – a paramilitary contingent comprising military and civilians.
Salliman said that the armed forces of the Philippines told him Abu Sayyaf was responsible for the blast.
Mindanao – the largest island in the southern Philippines, on which Basilan sits – is home to several groups of Islamist insurgents, including Abu Sayyaf, who has been blamed for a number of attacks against civilians and Philippine government troops, as well as the abduction of several foreign nationals.
Abu Sayyaf – alongside the Maute group, another terrorist organization based in Mindanao – was responsible for the invasion and occupation of Marawi, the largest Muslim-dominated city in the country, in 2016
Abu Sayyaf Basilan was led by Militant Isnilon Hapilon until his death at Marawi's siege. The group pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2014.
Greater autonomy promised
The attack comes shortly after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte approved the Bangsamoro organic law (BOL) creating an autonomous region predominantly Muslim. Mindanao areas.
Duterte said that he would not negotiate with Abu Sayyaf or other militant Islamist groups.
The new law will abolish the current autonomous region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which has been described as a "failed experiment" by former President of the Philippines, Benigno Aquino, to make way for the new government autonomous Bangsamoro. The region will elect its own 80-member parliament and enjoy significant fiscal autonomy from the central government.
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