Security forces ready for retaliatory attacks after death of Maute, Hapilon

LANAO DEL SUR, Philippines — Authorities are anticipating possible retaliations by loyal followers of slain terrorists Isnilon Hapilon and Omar Maute.

Chief Superintendent Reuben Theodore Sindac of the Police Regional Office-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao said on Wednesday that all of their units in Marawi City and in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur provinces are guarding against vengeful rampage by remaining followers of the duo to avenge their deaths.

Hapilon, who hails from Basilan, and Maute, an ethnic Maranao, were killed before dawn Monday by pursuing Army Rangers and mechanized Army troops, almost five months after leading the siege of Marawi City. 

READ: How Maute, Hapilon died in one of last Marawi gunfights

The attack sparked a conflict that resulted in the deaths of hundreds and dislocation of more than 300,000 residents in Marawi City and in nearby towns in Lanao del Sur.

Hapilon, leader of one of two Abu Sayyaf factions in Basilan, was self-proclaimed "emir" of all Islamic State-inspired groups in southern Mindanao. Maute was founder of the Maute terror group, also known as the Dawlah Islamiya.

READ: Who is Philippines' most wanted militant Isnilon Hapilon? l How Maute group came to be

“We are not taking chances. It’s better ready than sorry. These are fanatics to the core and protecting innocent people from them is so necessary,” Sindac said.

Six members of the ARMM police were killed while 61 others were wounded in encounters with combined Abu Sayyaf and Maute gunmen since the trouble in Marawi City started on May 23.

Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. of the Western Mindanao Command said on Wednesday that units of the 6th Infantry Division in central Mindanao are prepared for retaliations by remaining Maute terrorists and a sympathetic group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

Galvez said a third group, a radical faction in the BIFF under Esmael Abdulmalik, which uses the flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, is also being monitored.

Local ISIS-inspired groups are known for using improvised explosive devices against non-military targets to avenge losses in encounters with government forces.

Forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has a ceasefire pact with Malacañang, killed 29 followers of Abdulmalik and took over their camps in Salibo town in Maguindanao early this month following seven weeks of deadly encounters that also left more than a dozen MILF guerillas dead.

“Our security efforts against violent religious extremists in Maguindanao are being assisted by the MILF,” Galvez said.

The government and the MILF are bound by an interim truce, the 1997 Agreement on General Cessation of Hostilities, to cooperate in maintaining law and order in potential conflict-flashpoint areas in Mindanao.

Sindac said Police Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, who accompanied President Rodrigo Duterte to Marawi City on Thursday, directed the PRO-ARMM to enlist the help of municipal and provincial peace and order councils in protecting local communities from vengeful attacks by Maute and Abu Sayyaf gunmen.

“We also tapped the support of the local religious communities towards that goal,” Sindac said.

Sindac and other senior PRO-ARMM officials were in Marawi City Tuesday when Duterte declared there that all of its barangays have been liberated from Maute and Abu Sayyaf terrorists.

READ: Duterte declares Marawi freed from terrorists 

Sindac said the chief of the Marawi City police, Superintendent Ebra Moxsir, shall intensify the current religious programs of PRO-ARMM that are meant to counter the recruitment activities of the Maute terror group.

“Superintendent Moxsir will lead these programs because he is an Islamic theologian. These non-tactical community projects are being supported extensively by our director general,” Sindac said.

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