[Gulf Today] A 12-year-old girl was killed and her mother seriously injured when a roadside bomb believed to have been planted by the Abu Sayyaf exploded in Mindanao. Police said the victims were gathering root crops in a village along the road in Lamitan City, Basilan when the bomb exploded on Sunday afternoon.Police blamed the Abu Sayyaf for the blast, saying it was intended to divert the intensified search and destroy operation launched against them in the mountains in Lamitan's neighboring town of Sumisip.
Meanwhile, President Rodrigo Duterte confirmed the arrest in Malaysia of the son of a Maguindanao lawmaker for his alleged involvement in the bombing of a popular night market in Davao City, Duterte's hometown last September. He identified the suspect as Datu Mohammad Abduljabbar Sema, who has been detained by Malaysian authorities since last November for his alleged link to the Davao City bombing that killed 15 people and injured more than 60 others.
Sema is the son of Muslimin Sema, the head of a faction of the divided Moro National Liberation Front as well as the former mayor of Cotabato City, and Congresswoman Bi Sandra Sema of Maguindanao.
With Sema's arrest, Duterte said all suspects have been accounted for in the bombing blamed on members of the Matute Group which has pledged allegiance to the Daesh.
Secretary Delfin Lorenzana of the Department of National Defense said the government has requested Malaysia to extradite Sema back to the Philippines so he could face trial.