11 Maute bandits killed in Lanao Sur clashes —military

From GMA News (Nov 27): 11 Maute bandits killed in Lanao Sur clashes —military

Eleven members of the Islamist Maute group have been killed in clashes with government soldiers in Butig town in Lanao del Sur, the military said Sunday.

Col. Edgard Arevalo, public affairs chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), said five more members of the bandits group were wounded in the clashes, which started Saturday morning.

Arevalo said the military launched an offensive against the Maute Group after its members occupied the old and abandoned municipal hall of Butig town, the bandit group's former stronghold seized by the military early this year.

"This prompted the immediate conduct of military operations focused on dislodging the lawless group. [Two] soldiers were slightly wounded while 11 members of Maute Group were killed and at least [five] wounded,” Arevalo said in a statement.

Residents were forced to evacuate Saturday morning when firefights between the bandit group and the military erupted at about 10 a.m.

"The recent action of the lawless Maute Group in occupying an abandoned portion of Butig Municipality 9 o'clock in the morning of 26 November 2016 has driven the people from other areas of the town to flee their homes,” Arevalo said.

He said that the military has advised the remaining residents to leave their homes as they expect the clashes to last for a week.

Maute is an armed Islamic State-influenced rebel group composed of former Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas and some foreign fighters led by Abdullah Maute, the alleged founder of a Dawlah Islamiya, or Islamic State based in Lanao del Sur.

Arevalo said the Maute group hoisted an ISIS flag at the old municipal building as a show of its allegiance to the international terror group and to encourage other extremist individuals to join them.

"The Group has reportedly raised the ISIS flag which was expected since they have long been professing allegiance to the foreign terror group. This is still part of the Maute Group's agenda in courting support and encouraging similar minded individuals to support ISIS,” he said.

Arevalo also vowed that the AFP will continue its military offensive against the Maute Group.

"The AFP will continue to frustrate their sinister objectives as was manifested by the military's forthwith and continuing action in preventing the situation from escalating or spilling to other areas,” Arevalo said.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/590373/news/regions/11-maute-bandits-killed-in-lanao-sur-clashes-military