A deadly bombing of a Catholic Mass in southern Marawi city this week has exposed the Philippine military’s weakness in intelligence gathering, officials said Thursday, after identifying two Filipinos as main suspects in the attack claimed by Islamic State extremists.
The Islamic State group’s emir for Southeast Asia was one of two suspected militants killed during a pre-dawn raid in the south of the Philippines on Wednesday, the country’s military said.
Five years after then-President Rodrigo Duterte declared government forces had liberated the southern city of Marawi from Islamic State militants, the area remains far from normal with thousands of residents living in limbo in temporary shelters.