The Philippine National Police (PNP) released on Wednesday, Dec. 6, the photos of the two persons of interest in the Marawi City bombing that left at least four people dead and several others injured.
Police said the photo above is Kadapi Mimbesa, one of the two persons of interest in the bombing inside the Mindanao State University-Marawi Campus. Investigation revealed that he was the one who detonated the bomb using a cellupar phone. (photo: PNP)
The two were identified as Kadapi Mimbesa, alias Engineer, and Asani Membisa, alias Khatab, and were tagged as persons of interest after they were identified by some of the survivors in the blast as acting suspicious before the bomb went off at around 7 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 3, inside the Dimaporo Gymnasium at the Marawi City campus of the Mindanao State University.
“During a review of CCTV footage, they were sighted heading towards the MSU at 6:27 a.m. They were also seen by some witnesses inside the gym,” said Fajardo.
“Before the explosion, they were seen going out of the MSU and one of the persons of interest (Kadapi Mimbesa) was seen using a cellular phone. That might have triggered the explosion,” she added.
Police said the photo above is Asani Membisa, who allegedly carried the bag loaded with improvised explosive materials into the MSU-Marawi City campus. (photo: PNP)
Fajardo said that the same review of CCTV footage and testimony of the witnesses revealed that Arsani Mebisa was seen carrying a bag inside the MSU before the blast.
Fajardo said the two identified suspects are members of the Daulah Islamiyah-Maute Group and are both fugitives for cases of murder.
Police investigation revealed that the improvised bomb was made from 60mm mortar and a rifle grenade.
“Based on the qualitative analysis of our Forensics Group, the bomb also used high explosive, TNT,” said Fajardo.
On Tuesday, Dec. 5, Fajardo said they were also looking for two other suspects who served as lookouts.