Jolo

Turkey on July 4 extended condolences to the Philippines over the loss of lives in a military plane crash.

"We learned with great sorrow that a Philippine Air Force plane crashed on 4 July 2021 in the Jolo island of the Sulu province," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

At least 18 people were killed when two bombs hit a church on a southern Philippine island that is a stronghold of Islamist militants, the military said Sunday, days after voters backed the creation of a new Muslim autonomous region, reports AFP. 

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he has ordered his troops to bomb extremists who flee with their captives in a bid to stop a wave of kidnappings at sea, calling the loss of civilian lives in such an attack "collateral damage."

Philippine soldiers battled a group of about 120 Muslim rebels linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in a ten-hour assault on a southern island that killed 23 people, an army spokesman said on April 10.