Philippine police say they have captured two local sympathizers of the Islamic State group who they alleged tried to detonate a bomb near the U.S. Embassy and prompted authorities to raise a terror alert.
National police chief Ronald de la Rosa says the militants, who were arrested Wednesday, left the homemade bomb made from an 81mm mortar round in a trash can near the embassy after failing to detonate it at the nearby Rizal Park, their initial target. The bomb also failed to explode near the embassy.
Dela Rosa said Thursday that Rashid Kilala and Jiaher Guinar, who belong to a small Muslim armed group called Ansar Al-khilafa Philippines, wanted to impress the Islamic State group and divert the military's focus from an offensive against fellow militants in the south.
Δημοσίευση σχολίου