Fighting kills 8 ISIS soldiers in the Philippines

From the Mindanao Examiner (Jan 27, 2024): Fighting kills 8 ISIS soldiers in the Philippines

COTABATO CITY - Fierce clashes broke out between security forces and pro-ISIS gunmen in southern Philippine Muslim province of Lanao del Sur and left at least a dozen casualties, reports said on Saturday.

The fighting erupted in Piagapo town late Thursday afternoon after members of the notorious Dawlah Islamiya (Islamic State) attacked soldiers sparking fierce fighting that continued the next day.

Reports said at least eight gunmen were killed and four members of the Army's Scout Rangers wounded in the clash.

The soldiers were tracking down the terrorist group when they came under fire.

The battle stopped after the remaining gunmen split in smaller groups and fled.

Soldiers have recovered the bodies of the slain terrorists and their weapons, including improvised explosives, and the hunt for the Dawlah Islamiya continues in the province, a known stronghold of the terrorist group.

The extremist group is blamed for last month's bombing of a Catholic mass inside the Mindanao State University in Lanao del Sur's Marawi City that killed four worshippers and the recent killings of two army soldiers in Munai town in the neighboring province of Lanao del Norte.

The Dawlah Islamiya is fighting for the establishment of a caliphate in the largely Catholic, but restive region, home to about four million Muslims. (Mindanao Examiner)

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