Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Wednesday information about the role of a foreign couple in the Jolo bombing last Sunday was provided by a Singaporean security analyst.

“The basis of that is some report from outside, I also received that, from our friends in Singapore. Our friend there is Rohan Gunaratna and he texted me that he is saying that there were two bombers, the Yemeni couple,” he said.

Lorenzana made the clarification after President Rodrigo Duterte mentioned the possible involvement of the couple as suicide bombers in the twin explosions that rocked Mt. Carmel Cathedral in Jolo that killed at least 20 people.

Lorenzana said the involvement of the Yemeni couple is still being verified

“These are all things that we have to validate. We do not yet know if they were Yemeni, like what I said, every time there is a suicide bomber and they die, there is a claim by some groups or ISIS that these two they are martyrs for inflicting casualties on the enemies of Islam,” said Lorenzana.

He said like what Duterte mentioned the second explosion was possibly by a suicide bomber.

“There are a lot of body parts that we saw there. There were feet, parts of heads, and some were at the wall and fence. It appears to be a suicide bombing and I was also convinced immediately that maybe it’s a suicide bombing,” he said.

Lorenzana said government forces were trying to identify those whose bodies mangled because of the explosion.

“The final conclusion is not there... so that is what we are looking at if it is suicide bombing or nor,” he added. Robina Asido/DMS