AFTER months of
official denial, the military admitted on Friday that at least five Malaysian
jihadists, believed to be affiliated with the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (ISIS), were seen accompanying
Abu Sayyaf bandits in Mindanao .
Armed Forces of
the Philippines Public Affairs Office chief Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc said the
five Malaysians were seeon on two occasions in Tuburan, Basilan and Patikul,
Sulu at the height of a military operation in the areas.
Cabunoc
identified one of the five Malaysian jihadists as a certain Amin Bago who was
with the ASG leader Isnilon Hapilon and Hatib Sawadjaan, another notorious
bandit responsible for the killing of dozens of army soldiers in Sulu last
year.
“We have
monitored the presence of foreign jihadists in Basilan
Island since last year,” Cabunoc said,
reversing the military’s announced position last year that the ISIS did not
have a presence in Mindanao .
One of the
foreign jihadists is a a member of the Malaysian Special Forces who has gone
absent without leave, similar to Malaysian terrorist Julkiflu Abdhir, who was
slain in Mamasapano, Maguindanao last January.
Since 2013,
Malaysian authorities have asked Philippine authorities to interdict the five
terrorists linked to ISIS after they infiltrated the porous borders between Malaysia and the Philippines
The five
jihadists were identified by Malaysian Home Minister Ahmad Hamidi as University of Malaya
Hamidi said the
five militants are associated with Daulah Islamiyah Asia Tenggara (Southeast
Asia Islamiya Network) which has links to ISIS .
Last year,
Hapilon and the late Basit Usman, the Filipino henchman of Malaysian terrorist
Abdhir, pledged allegiance to ISIS in videos
posted on YouTube, but Cabunoc claimed “their actual membership or affiliation
is not establish as of today.”
Cabunoc also revealed
that one of the Malaysian jihadists is training Abu Sayyaf bandits in
bomb-making in an underground factory somewhere in the outskirts of Tuburan,
Basilan, which was eventually seized by security forces from the Army’s Third
Scout Ranger Battalion and the 18th Infantry Battalion last May.
“These bombs were
trace to a group of foreign jihadists and there was one Malaysian who was
identified with (the Abu Sayyaf) and they were able to escape but the bomb
factory was seized,” Cabunoc said.
The Malaysian’s
militants, Cabunoc said have also been engaged alongside with the Abu Sayyaf in
a fight with the military in April that resulted to numerous injuries to the
Abu Sayyaf.
“Some of them
went to Sulu to join the fight with Radulan Sahiron. At least two or three of
them went to Sulu [but] we are not sure if they came back in Basilan,” Cabunoc
said.
http://manilastandardtoday.com/2015/06/13/-afp-jihadists-in-mindanao/
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