Philippine military offensive against terror group led by IS Southeast Asia emir
Air strikes and ground assault are carried out against Dawlah Islamiyah a.k.a. Maute Group.
MAGUINDANAO DEL SUR: The Philippine military launched a major offensive on Tuesday (May 2) against a local terror group in the southern Maguindanao del Sur province led by the emir of Daesh Southeast Asia, it has been reported.
The dawn air strikes and ground assaults were carried out at a suspected lair of the Dawlah Islamiyah, another name given to the Maute Group, in Datu Piang municipality.
The military said the assault was part of an ongoing manhunt operation against the terrorist group allegedly behind the April 17 bus bombing in Sultan Kudarat province, reported Rappler.
“This is a follow-up operation against those behind the Isulan bus bombing,” Brig. Gen. Oriel Pangcog, the commander of the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade, told the Filipino news site, mentioning Sultan Kudarat’s capital city.
Pangcog said military intelligence operatives detected the group's movement and determined that they were plotting fresh attacks in Mindanao.
“We received information that they met at the target place so we carried out this operation,” Pangcog reportedly said, adding the area was far from the general public and no civilians were evacuated.
Artillery attacks using 105 howitzers followed the air strikes, it was further reported.
Pangcog said clearing operations by ground troops were ongoing following the pre-dawn assault.
“We could not say yet if there were casualties,” he told Rappler.
Maj. Gen. Alex Rillera, the Joint Task Force Central and 6th Infantry Division commander, reportedly said the group had been under surveillance even before the bus bombing in Isulan.
He said the group was monitored along the borders of Pagalungan and Datu Montawal in Maguindanao del Sur and Pikit municipality in Cotabato province.
Rillera said an earlier military offensive led to the discovery of several improvised explosive devices in a temporary Maute Group encampment in the area, Rappler reported.
He said a subsequent military operation resulted in the killing of a suspected Maute Group member and capture of another.
“It’s not every day that they can escape. We will get them one by one,” Rillera said according to the news site.
The Maute Group is led by Faharuddin Hadji Sattar, also known as Jer Mimbantas and Abu Zacharia, who the Philippine military announced last year was the emir of Daesh in Southeast Asia.
Abu Zacharia was radicalised at the hands of an Indonesian extremist, which I detailed in a special report for The Diplomat magazine published in June last year.