Filipino bishop decries terrorists’ plan to use hostages as suicide bombers

August 18, 2017

A Catholic bishop in the Philippines has denounced the reported plan of an Islamic terrorist group to force hostages into the role of suicide bombers.

Bishop Edwin de la Peña y Angot of Marawi—the city on the island of Mindanao where terrorists attacked the cathedral and seized hostages in May—reacted to warnings that the Islamic group would use the hostages as human bombs. The tactic is “horrible… to be condemned!” he said.

”These terrorists are clearly desperate to even imagine something like that,” said the bishop. The Islamic militants, who had evidently planned to take control of the city, have been battling sporadically with government troops. About 40 militants remain in Marawi, officials report, surrounded by hundreds of soldiers.

 

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Further information:

• Bishop voices firm condemnation of plan to use hostages as human bombs (Fides)