Filipino IS terrorist killed, woman terror finance facilitator nabbed
Philippine Army killed terrorist while repelling attack on their base.
LANAO DEL SUR: An alleged Daesh terrorist was killed and a suspected terror finance woman facilitator was arrested last week in the southern Philippines, where authorities in some provinces believed more militants will surrender this year.
The alleged Dawlah Islamiyah (DI)-Maute Group member was killed while the Philippine Army repelled an attack of the Islamic State (IS)-linked group on one of its bases in Maguing, Lanao del Sur province, the military reported on New Year's eve, Dec. 31.
DI is the designation given to local terror groups aligned with Daesh, in contrast to some terror groups which do not subscribe to the Middle Eastern terror group’s ideology.
Colonel Don Villanueva, commanding officer of the 55th Infantry Battalion (55IB), reportedly said about five alleged DI-Maute Group members attacked their Bravo Company’s base at Sitio Manukan in Dilimbayan village at about 3am on Dec. 28.
The 55IB is a unit of the 103rd Infantry Brigade, which in turn is under the command of the army’s 1st Infantry Division (1ID).
Villanueva said an alert on-duty soldier fended off the attack and engaged the armed men in a firefight which lasted for five minutes.
"The enemy withdrew, leaving behind a dead terrorist," Villanueva was quoted as saying about the unidentified dead terrorist
The government troops recovered an M16 rifle with seven magazines and 116 live ammunition on the gunfight scene.
"Security knows no holiday. We must always be ready to defend our people," Villanueva noted.
The army’s chief, Lt. Gen. Roy Galido, lauded the vigilance and readiness of the 55IB which enabled them to foil enemy attacks amid the holiday season.
Meanwhile, Brig. Gen. Yegor Rey Barroquillo Jr., commander of the 103rd Infantry Brigade, called on the remaining members of the Dawlah Islamiya Group to abandon their arms.
He assured the public that the brigade will continue to be the guardians of peace in Lanao del Sur.
The slain suspect’s body was turned over to the police for further action.
Meanwhile, the woman, allegedly a finance facilitator of the Abu Sayyaf terror group, was arrested in Isabela City, Basilan province, on Dec. 23.
Norkisa Omar Asnalul, 32, was apprehended in Sitio Bliss, Lanote village, by operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and local police based on a warrant issued by a local court, Brig. Gen. Bowen Joey Masauding, the Zamboanga peninsula police chief, reportedly said.
Asnalul was charged with violation of the Anti-Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act on Dec. 20. She was on the most wanted list of the CIDG.
The suspect is the widow of Ramji Ajiju, son of Abu Sayyaf bomb expert Abdullah Ajijul, who was tagged in the bombing of a pension house in this city in 2011 that left three people dead.
Asnalul reportedly met with people with links to the Islamic State and al-Qaeda for money and provisions for Abu Sayyaf bandits to sustain their terrorist activities.
Meanwhile, Philippine police and army officials are certain of the surrender in 2024 of no less than a hundred more members of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the Dawlah Islamiya from across the neighbouring Bangsamoro provinces and predominantly Moro towns in Region 12.
Major Gen. Alex Rillera, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division (6ID), said on Dec. 31 that their units in Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat, Cotabato and South Cotabato provinces and local government units are to intensify in 2024 their backdoor talks with members of both groups who had signified intention to return to the fold of law.
Seventeen members of the BIFF surrendered to the Police Regional Office-12 in General Santos City on Dec. 20 through the intercession of different police units under the region’s police director, Brig. Gen. Jimili Macaraeg.
Battalions and brigades under 6ID, the Bangsamoro regional police led by Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza and PRO-12 had separately worked out the surrender in batches of 719 BIFF and Dawlah Islamiya terrorists since January 2022.
“We have been receiving more surrender feelers lately and we are confident more from these two groups will come out in 2024 and return to their hometowns and, there, thrive in peace,” Nobleza said on Dec. 31.
The chairperson of the Regional Development Council 12 (RDC-12), Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza, said on Dec. 31 that she will flex her influence to oblige mayors in her province and other areas under RDC-12 to embark on peacebuilding projects that can hasten the local reconciliation programmes of the police and army for BIFF and the Dawlah Islamiya members.
“We need to work together on that `bayanihan style’ for peace to fully spread around in areas where there is presence of these groups. Peacebuilding cannot be done without the support of all sectors,” Mendoza said
Rillera said a good showcase of civil-military cooperation in addressing both groups is how the Cotabato Provincial Peace and Order Council, whose presiding chairperson is Mendoza, and her constituent-mayors, are together maintaining law and order in the 63 Bangsamoro villages in their province.
The 63 villages in different Cotabato towns are under the regional government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, but are inside the territory of Administrative Region 12.
“There were remarkable breakthroughs in the settlement of clan wars among Moro clans there since 2019 and a big number of Dawlah Islamiya and BIFF members from there have returned to the fold of law as a result of the joint peace efforts of the Cotabato provincial governor, her constituent-mayors, the 602nd Infantry Brigade and the police,” Rillera said.
Rillera said Mendoza and mayors in Cotabato province are together trying create a “good investment climate” in the 63 Bangsamoro villages for capitalists to come in and venture into viable capital-intensive agricultural projects that the local communities can benefit from, via employment and generation of revenues that recipient-LGUs can allocate for community-based humanitarian and socio-economic projects.
“For their efforts, we are thankful. Economic progress in areas where there are few remaining BIFF and Dawlah Islamiya members will catalyse peace and hasten our efforts to make them renounce their membership with both groups,” Rillera, who is member of the RDC-12, said.