</s>(3rd UPDATE) This is the second explosion to hit the province in less than a week

MANILA, Philippines (3rd UPDATE) – Another deadly explosion rocked the municipality of Isulan in Sultan Kudarat on Sunday, September 2.

At least one person was killed in the blast, identified by cops as 18-year-old Jan Mark Lupa.

There were 14 injured – two of them seriously wounded, while 12 others suffered less severe injuries.

According to the initial police report relayed to Rappler by the Sultan Kudarat Provincial Police Office, the explosion occurred at around 7:30 pm near the Novo Building at the Isulan town proper in Barangay Kalawag 2.

Police have arrived to process the blast site.

Just 5 days ago, an improvised explosive device rocked the provincial capital as it celebrated its Hamungaya Festival.</s>A bomb attack on Sunday night in the southern Philippine city of Isulan left one person dead and 15 others wounded, after a similar incident five days earlier killed three people and injured more than 30.

The commander of the Army's 6th Infantry Division, Cirilito Sobejana, confirmed to media that an improvised explosive device exploded on Sunday night in front of a department store in the center of Isulan, capital of Sultan Kudarat province.</s>(UPDATED) PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde also orders the relief of the provincial director of Sultan Kudarat and the chief of police of Isulan town

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Following a string of bombings last week, Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar Albayalde ordered Monday, September 3, the immediate relief of the Sultan Kudarat provincial director and the chief of Isulan town.

Albayalde also issued a stern warning to the provincial police chief of Masbate following a bombing Monday midnight. Alabayalde texted Rappler correcting earlier reports that said Masbate pronvincial director Senior Superintendent Froilan Navarroza was relieved.

The PNP chief said he told the Masbate provincial director he "runs the risk of being the next" to be axed if another incident happens under his watch.

An 18-year-old boy was killed and at least 13 were hurt when an explosion rocked Isulan town Sunday night, September 2.

It was the second bomb explosion in the capital of Sultan Kudarat. On Tuesday, August 28, an improvised explosive device was detonated at the height of the celebration of the Hamungaya Festival.

According to the PNP roster of key officers on its official website the officer-in-charge of Sultan Kudarat is Senior Superintendent Noel Kinazo.

This is a developing story. Refesh these page for the latest developments.</s>COTABATO, Philippines: A bomb ripped through an internet cafe in the southern Philippines on Sunday, killing one person and wounding 15 in the second deadly blast to strike the same city in days, authorities said.

The explosion in Isulan was a short distance from where an improvised bomb under a motorcycle blew up on August 28, killing three and wounding dozens.

These attacks are the latest violence in the south of the majority Catholic archipelago, where militants have been fighting a decades-long insurgency. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday’s bombing, but authorities’ suspicion immediately fell on the Islamic State-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF). "It is the BIFF who is responsible," Army General Cirilito Sobejana told AFP. "This group is out to sow chaos."</s>Despite martial law in Mindanao, PNP spokesman Benigno Durana, says 'obviously, there were gaps in the security measures'

MANILA, Philippines – Despite the declaration of martial law in Mindanao, attacks still continue to slip past the intelligence and prevention radar of Philippine authorities.

For the latest cases of bombings, the back-to-back blasts in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat, Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesman Senior Superintendent Benigno Durana said that there were glaring security oversights that failed to stop the attacks.

"Obviously, there were gaps in the security measures or security systems that [were] in place during the, right after the declaration of martial law, and especially after the first bombing [on] August 28," Durana said in a Monday, September 3 press briefing in Camp Crame.

On top of martial law, the PNP has also declared full alert status in Mindanao, which requires cops to work overtime for intensified security patrols, checkpoints, and investigations.

Just last week, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said that the government is considering the extension of martial law as one of its options in continuing to secure Mindanao.

Why does this matter? Martial law in Mindanao was precisely declared in May 2017 and extended up until the end of 2018 because security forces expressed the urgency to thwart and prevent threats with military rule.

"The extension of martial law is essential to the overall peace and stability. The rebellion in Marawi continues to persist and we want to stop the spread of the evil ideology of terrorism..." then presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella was quoted as saying after Congress extended military rule all over the island.

Bombings in the past week, however, point to more work needed to be done, as the bombings in Isulan on August 28 and September 2 alone claimed 5 lives and injured dozens more at the provincial capital.

Citing information from the military, Duran said they suspect that a breakaway group from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

What lacked? PNP spokesman Durana said they have already ordered a probe to identify "holes" in the security measures adopted in Sultan Kudarat, which involves sacking Sultan Kudarat and Isulan police chiefs Senior Superintendent Noel Kinazo and Superintendent Celestino Daniel, respectively.

He admitted that one of the mistakes of the members of the security community was the failure of intelligence. Whether it was the frustration in obtaining or dissemination of information that could have prevented the attacks, Durana did not say.

Durana then defended security forces in Mindanao, emphasizing that they are doing what they could to prevent more attacks.

"The PNP and the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines), and all the members of the security sectors are doing more than enough to prevent these thing[s] from happening again. But then again, we cannot police or we cannot cover every inch of the archipelago," Durana added. – Rappler.com</s>COTABATO: A bomb ripped through an internet cafe in the southern Philippines on Sunday, killing one person and wounding 15 in the second deadly blast to strike the same city in days, authorities said.

The explosion in Isulan was a short distance from where an improvised bomb under a motorcycle blew up on August 28, killing three and wounding dozens. These attacks are the latest violence in the south of the majority Catholic archipelago, where Islamist militants have been fighting a decades-long insurgency. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday’s bombing, but authorities’ suspicion immediately fell on the Islamic State-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

“It is the BIFF who is responsible,” Army General Cirilito Sobejana told AFP. “This group is out to sow chaos.” The mayor’s office of Isulan and the military said one person was killed in the bombing and 15 were wounded, four of whom were in critical condition.

The recent blasts follow President Rodrigo Duterte’s government enacting a law to create greater autonomy for the Muslim minority in the south which is hoped to help end the conflict.</s>COTABATO, Philippines: A bomb ripped through an internet cafe in the southern Philippines on Sunday (Sep 2), killing one person and wounding 15 in the second deadly blast to strike the same city in days, authorities said.

The explosion in Isulan was a short distance from where an improvised bomb under a motorcycle blew up on Aug 28, killing three and wounding dozens.

These attacks are the latest violence in the south of the majority Catholic archipelago, where Islamist militants have been fighting a decades-long insurgency.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday's bombing, but authorities' suspicion immediately fell on the Islamic State-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

"It is the BIFF who is responsible," Army General Cirilito Sobejana said. "This group is out to sow chaos."

The mayor's office of Isulan and the military said one person was killed in the bombing and 15 were wounded, four of whom were in critical condition.

The recent blasts follow President Rodrigo Duterte's government enacting a law to create greater autonomy for the Muslim minority in the south which is hoped to help end the conflict.

Authorities have expressed worry the law could encourage some militant factions to attack in an effort to derail the peace efforts.

Several armed groups are active against government forces in the south of the Southeast Asian country, where a decades-long rebellion has claimed more than 100,000 lives according to a government count.

Duterte put the southern Philippines under martial rule until the end of this year after pro-IS militants seized the southern city of Marawi last year.</s>MANILA, Philippines — Suspected Muslim militants on Sunday detonated a second bomb in less than a week in a southern Philippine town, killing at least one and wounding 15, a military official said.

The homemade bomb went off late Sunday near an internet cafe in Isulan town in Sultan Kudarat province, said regional military commander Brig. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana. Troops put the town in a security lockdown shortly after the attack.

“We’ve temporarily placed Isulan on a lockdown. We wouldn’t want the suspect to go out. We believe that the suspect is still inside,” Sobejana told reporters.

Three of the wounded were taken to a hospital in serious condition, Sobejana said.

A bomb concealed in a bag went off near a night market in Isulan on Wednesday, leaving three people dead and 35 wounded.

Military officials blamed both bombings on the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, a small but hard-line group that has aligned itself to the Islamic State group.

Philippine troops in the restive south have been on alert in recent weeks based on military intelligence that Muslim militants, suffering setbacks from battles with government forces, planned to carry out bombings in public areas.

A vehicle bombing on July 31 in southern Basilan province killed 11 people, including the suspected foreign militant who drove the vehicle. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility and identified the attacker as Moroccan. However, it cited a greatly inflated military death toll.</s>A bomb has ripped through an internet cafe in the southern Philippines, killing at least one person and wounding 15 in the second deadly blast to strike the same city in days, according to authorities.

Isulan, on southern Mindanao island, was placed on lockdown to hunt down those behind Sunday's attack, said Brigadier General Cirilito Sobejana, an army division commander.

"We believe that the suspect is still inside," Sobejana told reporters.

Three of the wounded were taken to a hospital in serious condition.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but authorities' suspected that the ISIL-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) group was behind the explosion.

"It is the BIFF who is responsible," Sobejana told AFP news agency, adding that "this group is out to sow chaos."

Earlier this week, three people were killed and 35 wounded when a bomb concealed in a bag went off near a night market in Isulan.

In July, at least 11 people, including soldiers and civilians, were killed and seven others wounded after a bomb exploded in a van in the island province of Basilan in the southern Philippines.

Several armed groups are active against government forces in the south of the Southeast Asian country, where a decades-long rebellion has claimed more than 100,000 lives.

The recent blasts follow President Rodrigo Duterte's government enacting a law to create greater autonomy for the Muslim minority in the south which is hoped to help end the conflict.

Southern Philippines, especially the Mindanao region, has been on high alert since ISIL-linked fighters laid a five-month long siege in Marawi City last year.

The region is currently under martial law, which was declared by Duterte in May 2017, and later extended by Congress to the end of 2018.
Another bombing incident occurs in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat, in the Philippines, when an improvised explosive device explodes outside an internet café, killing one person and injuring 15 others.