Hunt for Abu Sayyaf

chief leads to
Marawi battle
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 01:27 AM May 26, 2017

Isnilon Hapilon. PHOTO FROM FBI

A military raid on the hideout in Marawi City of an Arabic-speaking

Islamic preacher has sparked a full-scale battle in the Lanao del Sur
provincial capital and the proclamation of martial law in Mindanao.

Isnilon Hapilon, born in 1966 and later earned an engineering degree

from the University of the Philippines, has long ties to local extremist
movements.

Once a commander of the Moro National Liberation Front, he

ascended the ranks of the Abu Sayyaf to become its second-in-
command. The group is known for carrying out kidnappings and
beheadings of Filipinos and foreigners, as well as bombings,
assassinations and armed attacks.
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Hapilon gained notoriety when he allegedly helped the Abu Sayyaf
kidnap 20 hostages from Dos Palmas Resort in Palawan province in
2001. The victims included three US citizens, one of whom eventually
was beheaded.

In 2002, the US Department of Justice indicted Hapilon over the Dos

Palmas attack. He is included on the departments Most Wanted
Terrorist list, with a $5-million reward for information leading to his
capture.

IS allegiance

In 2014, Hapilon appeared in a video beside two masked men

pledging allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group, which was then
gaining ground in Iraq and Syria. He went on to organize an alliance
in the Philippines called Dawlatul Islam Wilayatul Mashriq, which is
now believed to include at least 10 small militant groups including
some Abu Sayyaf factions.

Last year, Hapilon was reportedly chosen to lead the IS group branch
in Southeast Asia.

The Philippine military has targeted Hapilon repeatedly with large-

scale military operations, and has come close to killing him. But the
militant leader remains elusive.

In 2008, troops bombarded an Abu Sayyaf camp near Jolo island with
artillery and mortar fire, reportedly wounding Hapilon in the hand. He
was also reportedly wounded in another operation in 2013.

The latest close call came in January, when the military attacked
militants with ground troops and airstrikes, dropping 225-kilogram
bombs from military jets.
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The operation left 15 militants dead, and the Army said Hapilon was
seriously wounded in the arm. Losing blood, he was placed on a
makeshift stretcher, escaping into a mountainous region of Butig in
Lanao del Sur.

Flag-raising

Joel Maturan, a former mayor of Ungkaya Pukan in Basilan province,

recalled that Hapilon was in a group of terrorists, including two
foreigners, that conducted in August 2014 a series of oath-taking
rites for 250 fully armed bandits before the IS flag.

They took oath, from one mountain to another, reaching out to all
their networks in majority of the towns like Tipo-Tipo, Sumisip, Al-
Barka, Tuburan, Maturan then said.

But Gen. Rustico Guerrero, then chief of the military Western

Command, dismissed the reports of IS presence in Mindanao.

What we see is that they (Abu Sayyaf) are just riding on the
popularity of the IS in the international forum. So we believe it is just
but a local propaganda but they dont have direct linkage in the
international group, Guerrero said.

To which Maturan replied: I know it is an IS ideology but I dont want

to engage in an argument with our military and police authorities. I
am giving all this information and it is up to them how to use it.

Threat in Mindanao

Two years later, in November 2016, the military still insisted that
there was no IS threat in any part of the Autonomous Region in
Muslim Mindanao.
Gen. Ricardo Visaya, then chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the
Philippines, said he had not received any official confirmation of IS
operating in Basilan, Sulu province or elsewhere in the country.

As far as we are concerned, these are raw information. We have

really to evaluate this information, Visaya said.

On Tuesday, security forces clashed with local militants belonging to

the Maute group and Hapilons Dawla Islamiyah, confirming
Maturans fears. REPORTS FROM AP AND JULIE S. ALIPALA

Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/899745/hunt-for-abu-sayyaf-

chief-leads-to-marawi-battle#ixzz4i7A9mcuA
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