Nine women suspected of plotting to blow up military targets in the restive southern Philippines have been arrested, the army said Tuesday.
Security forces detained the women and seized bomb-making equipment during raids on Friday of several homes on Muslim-majority Jolo island, a stronghold of the Islamic State-linked Abu Sayyaf group.
William Gonzales said in a statement. “This is how desperate the remaining terrorists are, willing to sacrifice their families just to get back at government forces,” Gonzales said.
The women had been monitored giving “financial or logistical support to their relatives” in Abu Sayyaf, First Lieutenant
Jerrica Manongdo told