12 Maute stragglers killed

From Malaya Business Insight (Nov 7): 12 Maute stragglers killed

TWELVE stragglers of the Maute Group were killed in skirmishes with government forces in Marawi City on Sunday, including a Malaysian terrorist touted as the possible successor of Filipino Isnilon Hapilon as leader of the Islamic State in Southeast Asia.

Citing reports from ground commanders, AFP Western Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez said the 12 were slain during an assault on two structures in the main battle area.

“Yesterday (Sunday), the ground commanders reported to me that there are body counts there in the areas where they are hiding and we believe, hopefully, Amin Baco is one of them,” Galvez said in an ambush in Villamor Air Base in Pasay City yesterday morning.

Galvez joined the Philippine Air Force leadership in paying a “hero’s welcome” for Air Force personnel who took part in the operations against the Maute in Marawi City. He said the role of the Air Force was the “game-changer.”

Combat operations against the Maute were terminated on October 23, five months after the terrorists attacked Marawi. The fighting left at least 900 Maute members, 165 soldiers and policemen, and 47 civilians dead.

Galvez said troops believe the 12 fatalities in last Sunday’s fighting also included an Indonesian terrorist, one “Pahalam,” and Hapilon’s son, Abdullah Hapilon.

“We have some suspicion that they are already dead,” said Galvez. He said that if Baco is neutralized, “we already broke the chain of the Maute ISIS and the Abu Sayyaf in Mindanao.”

Galvez said troops have recovered eight bodies in the encounter site and soldiers are trying to recover four more. He said DNA testing is needed before they can confirm that Baco was indeed among the slain terrorists.

AFP spokesman Maj. Gen. Restituto Padilla said Baco’s body has not been recovered.

Hapilon, Maute leader Omar Maute, and 18 other terrorists were slain during fierce fighting on October 16. Another potential successor of Hapilon, Malaysian Mahmud Ahmad, alias Dr. Mahmud, was killed a few days later.

“Amin Baco is believed to have been among those killed in Marawi recently. Baco’s remains are now the subject of an ongoing aggressive search,” said Padilla yesterday afternoon.

Col. Romeo Brawner, deputy commander of the military’s Joint Task Force Ranao, said Baco possibly died in last Sunday’s operation. He also said the military has recovered nine enemy bodies from the site as of yesterday afternoon.

Brawner said rescued hostages and Indonesian Mohamadin Ilham Syaputra, who was arrested Wednesday last week, informed the military of Baco’s whereabouts.

He confirmed the fatalities included Ibrahim Maute alias Abu Jamil, a cousin of Maute brothers Omar and Abdulah.

“Government troops are still on the lookout for more possible terrorists-stragglers in the main battle area. Thus, the military is warning the public that the main battle area is still off limits because of the danger posed by terrorist-stragglers,” said Brawner.

At around noontime, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said troops were still looking for Baco.

“Yes, we heard news that he could be the successor of Isnilon Hapilon as the emir of these terrorists,” he also said.

Earlier yesterday, PNP chief Ronald dela Rosa said Baco has taken over as IS leader in Southeast Asia.

Padilla, without naming names, said:  “Contrary to recent pronouncements by some officials that it (Maute) is now headed by a certain Amin Baco, the AFP strongly believes that the group is now leaderless and without direction.”

Lorenzana said Baco’s name became prominent only recently. “He is not as high-profile as Isnilon, maybe in the middle level only. It seems there are no other leaders left higher than him, so he may be also taking over,” he said.

Baco has been in the military radar for several years. He is being blamed for a number of attacks against government forces in Basilan, where Hapilon was previously based.

“We are not belittling him but I think he (Baco) cannot mass that number of people that Isnilon brought to Marawi, close to a thousand fighters, fully equipped, fully-armed and fully-supplied with ammunition,” said Lorenzana.

Dela Rosa, in a press conference in Camp Crame, said Baco has replaced Hapilon as ISI “emir” in Southeast Asia and is now leading the stragglers.

He said the information came from Muhammad Ilham Syahputra, the Indonesian terrorist arrested in Marawi on November 1.

Dela Rosa presented Syahputra to members of the media in Camp Crame but did not allow the Indonesian to speak.

EXPERIENCED FIGHTER

Deputy director general Fernando Mendez, deputy PNP chief for operations, said Baco is the longest staying foreign trained fighter (FTF) in the country “who was with Marwan for a long time,” referring to Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir who was killed by government forces in Mamasapano, Maguindanao in January 2015, in an operation that also left 44 Special Action Force commandos dead.

Mendez could not recall when Baco arrived in the country.

“He is one of the most experienced foreign trained fighters in the Philippines and that is probably the reason why, when Isnilon Hapilon was killed, he was elected or chosen as the replacement, as emir of ISIS in Southeast Asia as disclosed by Syahputra,” Mendez said.

He said Baco was also with Marwan in Lanao del Sur years back, and was staying in Maguindanao the time SAF commandos killed Marwan but was not involved in a shootout with the commandos because he was staying far from Marwan’s hut.

Based on Syahputra’s revelations, Dela Rosa said the remaining Maute terrorists have become miserable that they assigned a “buddy” or mate for each terrorist and those who wish to surrender or escape will be shot.

He said Syahputra’s “buddy” was identified only as a Tausug who came to Marawi City with Hapilon from Basilan .

He said Syahputra killed his buddy and escaped by swimming for about three hours in the Lanao Lake, before he was sighted by government forces.

MAUTE USED DRONES

Dela Rosa also said Syahputra was the drone operator of the Maute group which he said used five drones to monitor the deployment of government troops.

Dela Rosa said Syahputra, from Medan in Indonesia, first joined the ISIS while working as a CCTV technician after graduating from Prayatna Universitas Sumatara Utara, Medan, Indonesia with a degree in  information technology.

In 2015, Syahputra worked as a cargo crewman in Kualanamu International Airport before he worked in Malaysia in the early 2016.

He entered the country via Singapore on board Jetstar Airlines sometime November 2016 to join the ISIS in Marawi City. From Manila, he took a domestic flight to Cagayan de Oro City where he got in touch with unidentified people to help him join the ISIS in Butig town Lanao del Sur but was declined membership in his first attempt.

An unidentified individual advised him to go to Lamitan, Basilan where he was picked up and brought directly to Hapilon’s lair. He also visited Facebook accounts linked to ISIS-inspired members in the country in which he came to know Mohammad Khayam Romato Maute aka Otto, one of the three Maute brothers who was also later killed by government forces.

It was in Basilan where Syahputra met Hapilon, Baco, and other terrorists.

Dela Rosa said Syahputra does not personally know Indonesian Manhati Madrais, widow of Omarkayam Maute. Madrais was arrested Sunday in her house in Iligan City, where security forces recovered blasting caps, detonating cords, and a time fuse.

He said Madrais served as the Maute group’s finance/logistics officer and spread the ISIS doctrines in the country. He said her arrest would mean the further weakening of the terrorist group in the country.

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