Islamic State claims bombing that killed five on Jolo island in southern Philippines

Police in the Philippines have boosted security in Manila following a bombing at a military camp in the country’s troubled south, an official said on Saturday.

Five people were killed and 12 wounded in the attack on an army camp in Indanan town in Sulu province, 1,000km south of the capital, on Friday.

Major General Guillermo Eleazar, director of the National Capital Region Police Office, said all units in Metro Manila had been placed on full alert since Friday night.

"There are no threats detected within the National Capital Region but as a proactive means in response to this terror attack, the entire region is now placed under full alert status," he said.

The military said the kidnap-for-ransom group and IS-affiliate Abu Sayyaf was probably behind the midday blast on the island of Jolo.

Islamic State claimed the bombing was the work of two suicide attackers, according to tweets from Rita Katz, the director of SITE Intelligence Group which monitors extremist activities worldwide.

The Philippines has renewed its campaign against the militants on Jolo this year after a suspected suicide bomber struck the island’s Roman Catholic cathedral in January, killing 21 people.

The country is home to numerous armed groups, several of which are linked to the decades-old insurgency aiming to create a Muslim homeland in the Christian-majority nation’s deep south.

Friday’s blast blew the roof off the sentry gate of the military camp and blackened its concrete walls, according to photographs of the aftermath of the attack shown on local television.

Three members of the military unit were killed and nine others were wounded, while two civilians – a male tricycle driver and female street vendor – also died in the attack, said army spokesman Colonel Ramon Zagala.

“This attack is meant to disrupt the intensified security operations and our operational tempo following [a] series of recent operational gains in the area,” Zagala said in a separate statement.

Witnesses saw a blood-soaked man slumped beside a gore-covered tricycle parked on a street outside the temporary headquarters of the 1,500-member First Brigade Combat Team.

Authorities could not say what kind of explosives were used.

Arrests of six suspects with Abu Sayyaf in Philippines fuel fears over spread of militancy

Abu Sayyaf was active in the Philippines years before linking up with Islamic State, and has supported its violent activities with kidnapping.

The group has held hostages over the course of years and negotiated ransoms, but has also shown a willingness to kill its captives.

In the same week, a Dutch birdwatcher held for years by the Abu Sayyaf was killed on Jolo during a firefight between his kidnappers and soldiers sent to rescue him.

Additional reporting by dpa in Manila