Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared a nationwide "state of lawlessness" Saturday after suspected Abu Sayyaf extremists detonated a bomb that killed 14 people and wounded about 70 in his southern hometown. An Abu Sayyaf spokesman, Abu Rami, claimed responsibility for the blast near the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Davao University and a five-star hotel, but Duterte said investigators were looking at other possible suspects, including drug syndicates, which he has targeted in a bloody crackdown. The militants threatened to launch an unspecified attack after the military said 30 of the gunmen were killed in the weeklong offensive. Rami, the Abu Sayyaf spokesman, is the son-in-low of Mohammad Said, an influential militant commander who used the nom de guerre Amah Maas and was killed in the ongoing Sulu offensive. Davao Vice Mayor Paulo Duterte, the president's son, also told reporters that militants linked to the Islamic State group had threatened the progressive city.

Source: Fox News September 03, 2016 04:41 UTC