AFP: Hapilon’s top aide, Maute straggler killed

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — Two suspected Maute gunmen were killed by government troops as the military continued clearing Marawi City of possible stragglers of the extremist group.

Col. Romeo Brawner, deputy commander of Joint Task Force Ranao, said troops caught up with the two terrorists in a firefight inside the main battle area late Wednesday.

Two soldiers were wounded during the encounter, Brawner said.

Brawner identified one of the slain gunmen as Abu Talja, said to be the right hand man of slain Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon.

They were trying to slip out of the tunnels to escape the area when troops chanced upon them, triggering the firefight, Brawner said.

He said the troops recovered the bodies of the two terrorists, which are now being processed by police forensic experts.

Brawner said the two stragglers appeared to be weak and malnourished, confirming the claim of captured Indonesian militant Muhammad Ilham Syahputra.

“The Indonesian said they are already weak for lack of food so they forage during the night, hoping to get something to eat,” Brawner said.

Barangay watchmen arrested Syahputra while trying to escape last Wednesday.

Syahputra said there are still 39 of them hiding in the labyrinth of tunnels dug by the Maute militants inside the main battle area.

“But it’s possible there are still more than a dozen hiding inside,” Brawner said.

Syahputra confessed he arrived in the Philippines last year to join the Maute group on the invitation of Hapilon.

Hapilon, who was named emir of the Islamic State (IS) in Southeast Asia, was killed last month along with fellow militant leader Omarkhayam Maute.

The Indonesian fighter, from Medan, said his group was involved in a 2016 suicide attack that killed eight people in the Indonesian capital Jakarta that was claimed by IS, officials said.

Sources revealed the Indonesian militants went to Mindanao through General Santos City by boat.

Sources also identified two of Hapilon’s other Indonesian companions as Savithri and Urdomo Hartono.

Syahputra, on the other hand, was immediately turned over to the police and flown to the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

PNP deputy spokesperson Supt. Vemily Madrid said the Indonesian militant is now in the custody of the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

Syahputra would be facing charges of rebellion, illegal possession of firearms and explosives and violation of International Humanitarian Law.

Authorities had seized from Syaputra a .45 caliber pistol, a hand grenade, one computer tablet, assorted ammunition, pieces of jewelry, P17,700 in cash and assorted foreign currency, along with the passport of one Khoirul Hidayat, also an Indonesian.

On the other hand, officials are planning to award with special citations the village community watchmen who arrested Syahputra.

The village watchmen had alerted the military and police who took Syahputra into custody when they noticed he was not a resident of the city and could not speak basic Filipino. – Emmanuel Tupas, Edu Punay,  John Unson, Jaime Laude