Duterte says his relatives have joined ISIS

International Desk: Rodrigo Duterte, the ceaselessly controversial president of the Philippines, claims he has relatives who have joined ISIS.

Duterte recently made the admission to a local news site after claiming the Islamic State group was behind two recent bombings in the country that left scores of people dead.

“ISIS seems to be everywhere,” Duterte said, adding that several of his own cousins used to be part of two Islamist separatist organizations known as MI and MN.

“To be frank, I have cousins on the other side, with MI and MN,” he continued. “Some, I heard, are with ISIS.”

Duterte refrained from sharing any information on how he was certain that Islamic State militants were behind the recent bombings — one of which targeted a market in the city of Davao, killing 14 and wounding 70, and another targeting a church in the Cotabato region, wounding at least 13.

The Filipino leader has previously claimed that the Davao attack could have been carried out by members of drug syndicates angry over the bloody drug war he launched upon taking office this June.

Nearly 6,000 people have been killed by police and state-sanctioned vigilantes in the brutal drug crackdown, according to estimates from human rights groups.

Source: agencies

risingbd/Dhaka/Jan 4, 2016/Nasim