In Photo: Brig. Gen. Rolando Joselito Bautista, commander of the Army’s First Infantry “Tabak” Division, talks with the troops who seized the encampment the Maute Group in Piagapo Complex, Lanao del Sur.
ARMY troops sent to track down Maute Group bandits on Wednesday started clear up operations in Piagao, Lanao del Sur, where a series of gun battles occurred between the armed men and government forces.
Brig. Gen. Rolando Joselito D. Bautista, commander of the Army’s First Infantry “Tabak” Division, earier ordered a systematic and extensive visual tracking by troops of the entire area to determine if any other cadavers, arms, ammunition, homemade bombs and the like were left behind by fleeing Maute bandits.
Bautista also ordered the troops to turn over any cadaver found to the Piagapo police for forensic examination in order to determine their nationalities and identities.
At least four of the reported 37 dead Maute bandits were reportedly foreigners—three Indonesians and one Malaysian—with ties to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
At 8 p.m. on Monday, three unidentified men believed to be Maute bandits were seen in the vicinity of Tapucan, Piagapo, after an encounter with troops from the 103rd Infantry Brigade in Barangay Gacal also in Piagapo.
A pursuit operation by the troops resulted in firefight that lasted for five minutes prompted the bandits to withdraw toward the northwest.
There were no casualties on the government side, while no data on the side of the enemy was obtained.
However, an M16 rifle bearing serial RP 250280 was recovered on the scene. The rifle was manufactured by a local company during the Marcos administration and was issued to the government’s armed services.
Bautista advised the troops to be alert, remain patient and relentlessly pursue the bandits to prevent them from sowing further mayhem.
On Tuesday afternoon the troops recovered two unidentified cadavers in Sitio Pagalongan, Barangay Gacap, Piagapo, while scouring the encampment abandoned by the Maute bandits.
Meanwhile, efforts are ongoing to detect foreigners or Arab-looking personalities out to support bandit groups in Lanao del Sur and other parts of the country.
This was the response of the Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Eduardo Año when asked if there were any sightings of Arab personalities in areas, where lawless bands, like the Maute Group, are known to operate.
“Yes, there are some sightings of Arab personalities, but as I said before, there are Arabs going there on the pretext of being workers of charitable foundations or missionaries, so we are not really sure [if they are really sympathizer of local bandits or not]… but of course, it is part of the intelligence tasking to look for foreigners who are inclined to support or to be affiliated with our local bandit groups even including those of [Abu Sayyaf commander Isnilon] Hapilon,” he added.
Earlier, Año said around 37 Maute Group members, including three Indonesian and one Malaysian, were reported killed during military operations in Lanao del Sur from April 21 to 25.
The operation was designed to degrade the capability of the Maute Group.
Año said that of the 37 killed, 14 were already identified.
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/troops-start-clearing-operations-find-bodies-of-3-maute-fatalities/
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