Teenage IS member surrenders in southern Philippines
The boy was recruited when he was 11 and forced to fight government troops.
LANAO DEL SUR: A 15-year-old member of a Daesh-inspired local terror group surrendered to the Philippine military in the southern province of Lanao del Sur over the weekend, an army official said.
Brig. Gen. Yegor Rey Barroquillo Jr., the army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade chief, in a statement, said the teenager known by his alias, Taimiya, a member of DI, surrendered on Aug. 5 to the army’s 51st Infantry Battalion (51IB) based in Madalum municipality.
“He brought with him his M14 rifle,” Barroquillo said of Taimiya, who is from Lininding village, Piagapo municipality, Lanao del Sur.
DI or Dawlah Islamiyah is another name for the Maute Group,
Barroquillo attributed the surrender to local communities who provided the military with vital information about the remnants of the local Maute terror faction in their midst.
Taimiya said he was convinced to join the Maute Group in 2019 in Madalum when he was 11 years old and was forced to join several firefights against government troops.
Hardship, lack of adequate food and constantly running away from pursuing government forces made him decide to surrender and live a normal life, he recounted.
Barroquillo said Taimiya is now under the custody of 51IB for debriefing and processing under the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Programme.
He urged other Maute Group members to take advantage of the government’s reconciliation programme.
The Maute Group, along with another pro-Daesh local terror outfit, the Abu Sayyaf Group, laid siege to Lanao del Sur’s capital city of Marawi in 2017.
More than 1,200 people, mostly militants, were killed in the ensuing five-month battle before government forces liberated the city from the clutches of the terrorists in October of that year.