‘ISIS fighters may migrate to Mindanao’

MANILA,Philippines — The defense department has expressed concern that returning Malaysian and Indonesian members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria  (ISIS) from the Middle East will migrate to Mindanao.

In an interview over Radyo Singko, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said intelligence information shared by other countries showed that there is only one Filipino on the list of Muslim militants from Southeast Asian countries who have joined the ISIS in the Middle East.

Since the ISIS is losing ground in Syria and Iraq, Lorenzana said foreign fighters  have no choice but to return to their country of origin or move to another country. He said it was also the assessment of anti-terror experts from Europe and the Middle East.

He cited the death of ISIS emir Abu Bakr Baghdadi as another big blow to the terrorist group.

“Through the social media, it’s very easy for (foreign terrorists) to communicate with the Filipino youth to recruit them,” Lorenzana said.

“They might transfer to the Mindanao and we are always on the lookout for this,” he said.

He said the recent killing of two suspected Egyptian terrorists and an Abu Sayyaf suicide bomber in Indanan, Sulu is an indication that foreign terrorists are working with local bandit groups in Mindanao.