Two teens claiming terrorist ties surrender to Cotabato City mayor

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Two teenagers claiming to be Islamic-state terrorists who balked at bombing targets in central Mindanao during the holidays surrendered to Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi on Sunday.

Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi, chair of the inter-agency Cotabato City Peace and Order Council, presented the duo to reporters Sunday in the presence of senior police and military officials.

The two are still minors, their parents said.

The two alleged terrorists have initially claimed links with the Dawlah Islamiyah, also known as the Maute terror group based in Lanao del Sur, and the Ansa’r Kilafah Philippines, or AKP, operating in Sarangani province and in General Santos City.

Both groups are using the black IS flag as banner and are led by clerics who espouse hatred for non-Muslims.

Officials of the Army-led anti-terror Joint Task Force Kutawato, the 5th Special Forces Battalion and the 6th Infantry Division told reporters the parents of the two alleged terrorists decided to turn them over to the city government out of fear of the mayor's iron-fisted policy in maintaining law and order in all of the 37 barangays here.

The teenagers were said to have undergone training in the fabrication of improvised explosive devices in the seaside Palimbang town in Sultan Kudarat province.

Personnel of the 1st Marine Brigade killed seven terrorists in Barangay Butril in Palimbang in 2015 in a raid that led to the fall of an AKP camp there where IEDs, firearms and a black IS flag were recovered.

Army intelligence sources said the two adolescents also confessed to their links with the now detained TJ Macabalang, one of the alleged plotters of the September 2, 2016 IED attack in Davao City that left 17 people dead and injured more than 60 others.

Macabalang and two accomplices, Wendel Apostol Facturan and Musali Mustapha, were arrested in Cotabato City more than a month later.

One of their companions, Mohammad Chenikandiyil, yielded to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in October 2017.

Guiani-Sayadi said the city police and the military will adhere to social welfare regulations in keeping custody of the two terrorists who yielded Sunday.