Two more southern Philippine bombing suspects nabbed
This brings the total number of arrests to three.
LANAO DEL SUR: Two more alleged members of a local pro-Islamic State (IS) terror group have been arrested in an investigation into a deadly bomb attack on a Catholic mass in the southern province of Lanao del Sur, a police official said Thursday. (Dec. 14)
Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesperson Colonel Jean Fajardo told a press conference that the suspects, identified as “Maausor” and “Monatanda/Titing”, were arrested by a team consisting of police and military personnel in Cabasaran village, in Lumbayanague municipality, Lanao del Sur, on Dec. 9, GMA News Online reported.
They were allegedly members of Dawlah Islamiyah - Maute Group, which was tagged in the bombing attack on the mass held inside a gym at Mindanao State University (MSU) in Lanao del Sur’s capital city of Marawi on Dec. 3.
Four people were killed and dozens others injured in the bombing.
Dawlah Islamiyah is the local generic name given to terror groups aligned with IS.
Fajardo said investigators are currently looking into the possible involvement of the two men, who have warrants of arrest for murder.
The arrest of the two brought the total number of arrests in connection with the bombing to three. The first person nabbed was identified as Jaafar Gamo Sultan alias Kulot, who was detained by Task Force Marawi in Dulay Proper village, Marawi City, on Dec. 6.
Sultan is now facing charges for illegal possession of explosives and harbouring a criminal, she said, GMA reported further.
Apart from the three, Fajardo said authorities believe that two still-at-large persons of interest in the bombing, Kadapi Mimbesa alias “Engineer” and Arsani Membesa alias “Lapitos,” allegedly planned the bomb attack in Sultan’s house.
Fajardo also said a P1 million reward is being offered for information on the identity of two other persons of interest who were seen in a released CCTV footage entering and exiting the gym before the explosion.
One of them is seen in the footage carrying a black bag that is believed to have contained the explosives.
The Maute Group along with the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) laid siege over Marawi City in 2017 in their bid to establish territory for IS in the Southeast Asia region.
Over 1,200 people were killed in the nation’s longest urban battle that ensued before government forces liberated the city five months later.
Meanwhile, about 5,000 civilians have been reportedly displaced by armed clashes between the government militia, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and another pro-IS terrorist group, the Dawlah Islamiyah - Hassan Group, in a remote village in Pagalungan, Maguindanao del Sur province.
“These civilians are temporarily staying in nearby villages and still afraid to return home. We are attending to the needs of affected families,” Pagalungan Vice Mayor Abdillah Mamasabulod was quoted as saying by the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Tuesday (Dec. 12).
The residents were displaced by firefights that killed at least 11 Hassan Group terrorists, nine MILF members and two civilians including a baby.
Mamasabulod said the terrorists had killed the civillian named Kagi Samsudin and his one-year-old daughter in Dalgan village.
Samsudin’s relatives, who are members of the MILF, pursued the fleeing gunmen deep into the marshland but were ambushed instead, resulting in the nine MILF deaths, according to MILF commander Jack Abas, PNA reported further.
The Army’s 602nd Infantry Brigade tehn came to the MILF’s rescue on Dec. 9 by launching air and artillery attacks against the terrorists, killing 11 of them.
Clearing operations are continuing against the IS-aligned terrorists even into the holidays, according to the military.
The Hassan Group launched attacks on the MILF and the Maute Group bombed the gym possibly in response to the killing of three IS leaders including theirs and that of the ASG as well as the trio’s followers, Philippine authorities earlier said.
The Hassan Group’s leader, Abdullah Sapal a.k.a. Bro Sapal, who was also named as the overall IS Philippines emir, Maute Group subleader Alandoni Macadaya Lucsadatu a.k.a. Lando/Abu Shams and ASG subleader and bomber Mudzrimar Sawadjaan a.k.a. Mundi were both killed in military offensives just within days of each other in early December.
SEA MILITANCY earlier broke the news that identified the Hassan Group as the group of Sapal and his 10 followers who were killed in the military’s air and ground offensives in the marshland of Maguindanao del Sur on Dec.1.
After the killing of the three leaders and their men, the apparent questions now are of whether there are leaders left in the three groups and who is the new or potential overall leader of IS Philippines.