Lawmaker bares terrorists using fake passports

From the Gulf Today (Jun 21): Lawmaker bares terrorists using fake passports

A Moro lawmaker disclosed that foreign terrorists, mainly Indonesian nationals, have succeeded in obtaining fake Philippine passports that enabled them to participate in the siege of Marawi City in Mindanao in May 2017.

Congressman Zajid Mangudadatu of Maguindanao cited intelligence reports showing that, as a result, more and more Indonesian militants holding such fake passports have been entering the country through the port city of General Santos on their way to Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat.

The same reports showed that aside from their involvement in the Marawi siege, the Indonesians were also training members of local terror groups in the production of improvised bombs.

“It is likely that the foreigners have trained especially the Moro youths who, in turn, are destroying the image of our Muslim brothers in the country,” Mangudadatu pointed out in Filipino.

Earlier, the military confirmed intelligence agents were looking into reports of the reported involvement of foreign militants, particularly from Malaysia and Indonesia, in the Marawi City siege on May 23, 2017 that prompted President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte to declare martial law over the whole of troubled Mindanao.

The military said the foreigners fought side by side during the siege with members of the Abu Sayyaf and Maute Group that had pledged allegiance to the Daesh in the Middle East.

In particular, regional and Filipino security experts said they have also established the link of the Abu Sayyaf to the global Al Qaeda terror network through the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah militants.

Last week, Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner, the regional military spokesman, said government forces launched an operation against remnants of the Maute Group in the town of Tubaran, Lanao del Sur, who have been recruiting mostly Moro youths.

The operation which is still continuing, Brawner said, has been highlighted by co-ordinated air strikes and artillery fire to help government forces on the ground, who were reported to have killed at least five of the terrorists.

In their recruitment activities, the terrorists have been offering to the Moro youths arms and money, part of the huge loot they have seized during the Marawi siege, the military said.

http://www.gulftoday.ae/portal/099caa33-3768-4894-a0d2-888893ef03c1.aspx