IS kills two Philippine Army intelligence operatives; communist insurgent leader slain
A third Army troop survives the IS ambush.
LANAO DEL NORTE: Filipino Daesh terrorists reportedly ambushed and killed two army intelligence operatives while a high-ranking communist insurgent leader was killed in a firefight last week, the Philippine military said.
The soldiers were among three staff sergeants seeking information about the Dawlah Islamiyah-Maute Group in Munai, a remote town in Lanao del Norte province on Wednesday (Jan. 3), said Maj. Gen. Gabriel Viray III, the chief of the Army's 1st Infantry Division.
The third soldier survived the attack, BenarNews reported.
The army intelligence operatives were gathering information on last December’s fatal bombing of a Catholic Mass in Marawi City in the southern province of Lanao del Sur.
While returning to their base, they were ambushed, said Viray.
The soldiers, who wore civilian clothes and rode two motorcycles, were attacked by at least six members of the terrorist group, Viray said. “Two of them died while the other was safe.”
Dawlah Islamiyah, the local or Arabic term for “Islamic State” or Daesh, is the name given to local terror groups aligned with the Middle Eastern terror group.
EXCLUSIVE: 'Foreign Islamic State spokesman - possibly Syrian - speaks from Mindanao'
EXCLUSIVE: 'ISIS Philippines spokesman is now the group's emir'
The Maute Group, one of such groups, was named after the Maute brothers who led a five-month siege of the southern city of Marawi by pro-Daesh militants in 2017.
The Philippine military, backed by the U.S. and Australia, retook the city on Oct. 23, 2017, following five months of urban battle that left more than 1,200 people, mostly militants, dead.
On Dec. 3, a Sunday, suspected Maute terrorists bombed a Catholic Mass taking place at a university gymnasium in Marawi, which killed four people and injured 50 others.
The central organisation of Daesh claimed responsibility for Mass attack and also the fatal ambush of the army intelligence operatives.
Military and regional police have been on heightened alert and have launched a large-scale manhunt for two Maute leaders believed to be the masterminds of the Mass attack as well as arrested several other suspects.
Meanwhile, a high-ranking leader of the communist insurgent group, the New People’s Army (NPA) in the Eastern Visayas region, was killed in an encounter on Saturday (Jan. 13) with Philippine Army troops in Eastern Samar province.
The military identified the slain communist official as Martin Colima alias Moki, reportedly a member of the Sub-Regional Committee (SRC) Sesame, Eastern Visayas Regional Party Committee (EVRPC), GMA News reported.
EXCLUSIVE: ISIS leader may still be at large in Mindanao
Soldiers of the 78th Infantry Battalion (78IB) of the 8th Infantry Division (8ID) were conducting operations in the hinterlands of San Gabriel village, Borongan City, Eastern Samar, when it came into contact with an undetermined number of armed insurgents, resulting in a brief firefight.
The retreating NPA rebels left behind Colima. Soldiers recovered a .45 calibre pistol, seven backpacks and several documents.
One soldier was wounded and was brought to the hospital for treatment.
Lt. Col. Allan Tria, commanding officer of 78IB, said Colima and his group were responsible for the death of six soldiers and the wounding of 20 others from the 14th Infantry Battalion in an armed encounter in Pinanag-an village, Borongan City, on November 11, 2019.
Tria added Colima had multiple cases that included murder, attempted murder, frustrated murder and robbery.
According to the Army, Colima was the mastermind of an ambush along the National Highway at Libuton village, Borongan City, Eastern Samar, on December 13, 2019, that killed a policeman and three civilians as well as wounded at least 12 civilians including a minor and one-year-old baby.
Maj. Gen. Camilo Ligayo, the 8ID chief, said: "It is tragic that they have taken arms against the Filipinos, it is sad that another Filipino who was deceived by the misleading ideology of the communist terrorist died.
“On the other hand, I encourage the remaining members of the rebel group to surrender and be with their families while you still have a chance."
Communist insurgency in the Philippines is among the longest in the world.