THE military and the police yesterday pointed to the Maute group as behind the explosion last Tuesday in Marawi City, which hit a convoy carrying President Duterte’s advance party.
They also said the attack was meant to divert the military’s focus from operations against the group in Butig town in Lanao del Norte.
However, they differed on what hit the convoy which was carrying members of the Presidential Security Group.
The military said it was an improvised explosive bomb (IED) left on the roadside but the police said it was rifle grenade fired by Maute group members apparently on ambush position at a highway.
The explosion wounded seven PSG personnel and two soldiers from the 65th Infantry Division, who were in the convoy along with members of Radio Television Malacañang and local troop escorts preparing for Duterte’s visit Wednesday.
Maute members are being pursued by the military in Lanao del Sur after around 70 of them occupied the old and abandoned municipal hall in Barangay Bayabao, Butig town last Saturday.
Yesterday, government forces gained control of the building. At least 61 Maute criminals have been killed in the five-day military operation to dislodge them from the building. Operations are ongoing to clear the area of unexploded bombs.
Senior Supt. Agustin Tello, chief of the Lanao del Sur Police Provincial Office, said three to five members of the Maute group hid among the houses along the highway and fired a grenade launcher as soon as the military convoy passed.
He said the rifle grenade, which was “shoulder-fired,” hit the side of one of the Army trucks.
He said there is “no evidence” to support the presence of an IED.
“It was fired, parang shoulder fired, kaya na strike yung gilid ng sasakyan. Isang explosion lang ang nangyari. Yan ang theory namin kasi sa side tumama, hindi sa ilalim,” Tello said.
“Parang hit and run, baka yun ginawa nila. Mga three or five lang sila. May mga bahay doon so hindi basta maka-exchange of fire, kasi baka may tamaan na civilians,” he also said.
But he said there is no evidence the Maute knew there were PSG men in the trucks. He said the Maute members would hit any military truck they see.
TRADEMARK
Col. Generoso Ponio, deputy commander of the 103rd Brigade based in Lanao del Sur, said the IED was fashioned from a 60-mm mortar -- a trademark of the Maute group.
“There is no other group,” said Ponio citing findings of Explosive and Ordnance Disposal personnel on the bomb.
He said the IED was similar to the bomb used by the Maute in the September 2 Davao City bombing that left 15 people dead and scores injured.
The bomb in the Davao City bombing was made from 60-mm and 81-mm mortars. Eight Maute group members are already in the custody of authorities for the bombing. Some of them have confessed participation in the attack.
When told of reports that a rifle grenade was used in the Marawi City bombing, Ponio maintained that what was detonated was an IED.
Ponio said the Maute group detonated the IED to divert military focus from the operations in Butig and to “inflict casualties” on soldiers.
Lt. Col. Benedicto Manquiquis, spokesman of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division, said: “The Maute Group is our suspect. The bomb used (in the Marawi roadside bombing) was similar to the one they used in the Davao City bombing.”
“This is a diversionary tactic because of the focused military operations against them in Butig,” he also said.
The military has said troops were on a convoy of military trucks when the IED went off a road in Barangay Matampay at around 10:45 a.m., hitting the lead vehicle.
CONTROL REGAINED
Col. Edgard Arevalo, chief of the AFP public affairs office, said forces of the Army’s 103rd Brigade retook the old municipal building around 9:20 a.m.
Military officials said the Maute group took control of the building in response to military operations days earlier. Government troops moved to dislodge the group from the building and the fighting spread to other barangays in Butig.
“We have successfully retaken the (old) municipal building... If we are going to talk about the entire, 100 percent completion of the task of fully retaking and recovering that portion of Butig that they occupied, we are 80 percent complete,” said Arevalo, quoting from a report of Col. Roseller Murillo, commander of the 103rd Brigade.
Asked if they recovered any enemy body at the site, Arevalo said: “None yet. That will be part of the clearing operation that we are saying. We have to scour the area, we have to clear the area.”
The Maute Group, which has links with the Abu Sayyaf and the Southeast Asian regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiah, has pledged allegiance t to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. It has around 200 to 300 men, according to the military.
http://www.malaya.com.ph/business-news/news/afp-police-tag-maute-marawi-explosion
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