Philippines tightening security amid possible ISIS retaliations
This after three Maute Group terrorists killed in Sunday's clashes.
COTABATO CITY: The Philippine police and military have reportedly tightened security at the border of Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte southern provinces to thwart possible retaliatory attacks by a pro-Islamic State local terror group.
Authorities said the Maute Group could be planning to avenge the death of their three comrades in a series of encounters that also killed six Army soldiers in Munai, Lanao del Norte, on Sunday (Feb. 18), PhilStar reported.
“We are not taking chances. We are guarding against possible retaliations by the terrorists. This group is known for attacking people to avenge their comrades killed in clashes with government forces,” Bangsamoro police director Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza was quoted as saying by the news site on Tuesday (Feb. 20).
Meanwhile, seven terrorists, not three as earlier announced, were reportedly killed in the clashes.
Local officials had made the claim, PhilStar reported, adding however that Army chief Lt. Gen. Roy Galido said the service could not confirm that seven terrorists had been killed without an actual body count.
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The Maute Group is the subject of an intensified manhunt after they carried out a bombing attack that killed four people and injured dozens of others at a Catholic Mass held inside a gym at Mindanao State University in Lanao del Sur’s provincial capital city of Marawi last December.
The Maute Group along with the Abu Sayyaf Group laid siege on Marawi City in 2017 in an attempt to carve out territory for the Islamic State in the region.
A five-month fierce urban battle ensued, in which more than 1,200 people, mostly militants, were killed, before government forces liberated the city in October of that year.