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MANILA - The Armed Force of the Philippines (AFP) should acknowledge the existence of an Islamic State (IS) Philippines group and continue to eliminate it, a terrorism specialist said Tuesday.

This, after the Islamic State claimed responsibility for Tuesday's deadly blast in Basilan.

• Islamic State claims Basilan blast that killed 10

In an interview on ANC, Dr. Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism specialist, said one of the Philippine government's mistakes is to disregard the existence of IS in the country, including not recognizing the problem before the Marawi siege last year.

• Lessons learned from Marawi siege, gov't officials say

"The Philippines government neglected this issue, and they were taken by surprise when there was a siege in Marawi, so at least now, it is high time for the Philippines government to recognize that the Islamic State Philippines is active," he said.

"The Philippine military should take this challenge and they should proactively hunt and dismantle the structures that have pledged allegiance to IS. They should not say that there is no IS in the Philippines because this is the first mistake they made before Marawi," Gunaratna added.

He added the IS is still keen on establishing a wilayah (province) in Southeast Asia, with the Philippines as its center.

"Islamic State will establish a wilayah (province) in Southeast Asia and it is most likely that this wilayah will be established in the Philippines. It is true that the Philippines government defeated the Islamic State in Marawi, but I want to share with you that the intention of the Islamic State to establish a wilayah in the Philippines has not diminished. It is their dream to do so, and unless the Philippine military proactively dismantles all these groups that are linked to the Islamic State, the Islamic State will establish a wilayah in the Philippines," Gunaratna explained.

According to Gunaratna, the IS member who launched the attack in Basilan has been identified as Abu Kathir Al-Maghribi, a foreign terrorist fighter.

"This is a suicide attack and this, an attack by an IS leader who has traveled to the Philippines. His name is Abu Kathir Al-Maghribi," he said.

"Abu Kathir Al-Maghribi, who conducted this attack, he is a foreign fighter but he is working with the Islamic State Philippines, that is a local group of Filipinos the have embraced the IS ideology," Gunaratna added.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, however, urged the public on Wednesday to refrain from drawing hasty conclusions over a car explosion that killed 10 people in Basilan.

There are several theories about the incident, which "are just pure speculation at this time and are now the subject of an investigation," Lorenzana said in a statement.

• Defense chief on Basilan blast: Don't jump to conclusions

"As such, I enjoin everyone not to jump to any conclusion and just allow our investigators to do their job," he added.

Tuesday's explosion happened moments after troops stopped the vehicle that was allegedly loaded with improvised explosives. The driver, who was alone, allegedly detonated the bomb, the military said.

In a statement carried by its Amaq news agency, Islamic State claimed responsibility for the Tuesday's bombing, which it called "a martyrdom operation".

The former emir of Islamic State in Southeast Asia, who was killed last year by Philippine troops, was a leader of the Abu Sayyaf, a group notorious for kidnapping and banditry whose stronghold is in Basilan.

Authorities are not discounting Islamic State's claim of responsibility, but it would be easy for any armed group to claim responsibility for the attack, military spokesperson Col. Edgard Arevalo said.

• Military lowers death toll in Basilan blast