UN chief condemns deadly Philippine church bombings
Updated 11:54, 28-Jan-2019
CGTN
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At least 20 people were killed and 111 others wounded on Sunday when two bombs hit a Catholic church on a southern Philippine island that is a stronghold of Islamist militants, police said. 
Updated at 8:20 a.m. Monday BJT
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the deadly terrorist attack, calling for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.
According to a statement issued by a UN spokesperson, Guterres reiterated the support of the UN to the Philippine government and people in their efforts to fight terrorism and violent extremism and to carry forward the peace process in Bangsamoro region.
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Updated at 21:39 Sunday BJT 
The regional police chief Graciano Mijares put the toll at 20 dead, lower than the figure of 27 that he had given earlier Sunday, citing double counting.
Fourteen were civilians, five were members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and one was a member of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), according to Mijares.
A powerful first blast left bodies strewn inside the cathedral while mass was being celebrated, an army spokesman said. Just moments later a second explosion outside killed troops who were rushing to help the wounded in a heavily damaged church.
Philippine National Police Director General Oscar Albayalde said the bombs were believed to be an improvised explosive device (IED). He said one IED went off inside the church while the other went off outside, near the entrance of the church. "They went off one minute apart," he said.
Updated at 15:23 Sunday BJT
The death toll soared to 27 with another 77 wounded, according to Chief Superintendent Graciano Mijares, Philippine National Police (PNP) director in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
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The bombings took place days after the ratification of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), a new law that paves the way for the creation of a wider autonomous region for Muslim Filipinos in Mindanao.
Jolo rejected the BOL in a plebiscite on Monday but the law was ratified due to a landslide win in other predominantly Muslim provinces, including Lanao del Sur and Magiuindanao.
The Commission on Elections said on Friday that the BOL was "deemed ratified" after getting more than 1.5 million favorable votes. 
Updated at 12:23 p.m. Sunday BJT
At least 19 people were killed in two improvised bomb explosions at a church in the southwestern Philippines on Sunday, according to the police chief. More than 40 people were wounded, according to media reports. 
The twin explosions happened at 8:00 a.m. local time at the Jolo Cathedral in Jolo, Sulu. The victims are mostly Roman Catholic churchgoers attending the Sunday mass, according to local authorities. 
The Philippine presidential spokesperson said on Sunday afternoon that "authorities are now investigating these brazen attacks, which includes identifying the group behind the blast."
No group claimed responsibility for the terror attack.
(Top image: Policemen and soldiers stand outside a bomb-hit church in Jolo, Sulu province on the southern island of Mindanao, January 27, 2019. / VCG photo)
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