The Philippine flag is now hoisted in a 50-hectare camp used
by lawless elements belonging to Ansar al-Khalifa after combatants of the
Philippine Marines captured the training camp on Tuesday, a Marine official on
Wednesday said.
Brig. Gen. Emmanuel Salamat, commander of the 1st Marine
Brigade based in Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat, said elements of the 6th Marine
Battalion Landing Team and the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Sultan
Kudarat have occupied the camp without resistance following a week-long manhunt
and pursuit operations against Mohammad Jaafar Sabiwang Maguid alias Commander
Tokboy in Sitio Sinapingan, Barangay Butril, Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat.
Salamat said Commander Tokboy remained at- large and
believed to be hiding in the hinterlands of Palimbang and Maitum towns, both
coastal towns in Sultan Kudarat.
”In due time we will get him and his men,” Salamat told
reporters. “We continue our relentless campaign,” he added.
On Nov. 26, the Marines and the Criminal Investigation and
Detection Group (CIDG) went to Sitio Sinapangan, Barangay Butril to serve the
arrest warrants against Commander Tokboy for various crimes, including bombing
in Gen. Santos City.
As the soldiers were approaching the village, about 40
heavily armed lawless elements opened fire on government forces at 5:30 a.m.,
triggering a four hour running gunbattle.
When the smoke was cleared, eight men were found dead,
including suspected Indonesian bomber Ibrahim Ali, alias Hudzaifa who was
earlier arrested for gun possession in Zamboanga City
Salamat said Ali, who carries several other names, was a
senior member of the Mujahideen Indonesian Timur (MIT). He was believed to be
training local militants on bomb making in Palimbang mountains.
Commander Tokboy was not among the fatalities. He was
believed to have fled at the height of the fire fight.
Maj. Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, 6th Infantry Division
commander, told a news conference Friday that the Indonesian national was first
arrested in Zamboanga City for illegal possession of firearms in 2005 but was
released from detention in 2013 due to lack of merit of the case filed against
him.
He said Ibrahim Ali had since been monitored to be with
Commander Tokboy after his release, teaching bomb making.Pangilinan identified
the other fatalities as Abdul Halil, Tatuh Sumail and Kira Sabiwang, all
resident of Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat. Four others remained unidentified.
Marine forces recovered one cal. 50 sniper rifle, 20 rounds
of ammunition for cal. 50, an M-16 Armalite rifle, a cal. 45 pistol, bomb
making materials, ATM cards, Philhealth cards and six ISIS
flags.
Pangilinan said Commander Tokboy has four standing warrants
of arrest and was involved in a series of atrocities and violence in the South Cotabato area since August 2008.
He was previously apprehended in 2009 by the security forces
at Maasim, Sarangani
Province
He had been a fugitive for half a decade and was engaged in
various crimes that included cattle rustling, extortion, highway robbery and
murders.
Salamat said about 250 families have fled the village of Butril
Both Pangilinan and Salamat maintained that government
forces are still seeking additional pieces of evidence that would directly link
the lawless armed group to ISIS .
"Except from ISIS flags, no other concrete proof the
group was indeed legitimate member of ISIS ,"
Pangilinan said.
He surmised the ISIS flags
could be used by the group to show sympathy to the international terrorist
group.
Usman was killed by combined government and Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF) forces in Maguindanao in May.
Pangilinan lauded all the operating troops involved in the
operation.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=833536
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