Background

The group was founded in 2012 by brothers Abdullah and Omar Maute, who were petty criminals at
the time.[11] The group was originally known as Dawlah Islamiya.[12] The group pledged allegiance to
the Islamic State in April 2015, along with the Ansar Khalifa Philippines terrorist organization, vowing
to provide support for each other.[11] However, according to former National Security Council senior
consultant Ashley Acedillo, there are no indications that ISIS ever acknowledged the Maute group's
pledge.[13]
A report published in October 2016 stated that the Maute group "has the smartest, best-educated
and most sophisticated members of all of the pro-ISIS groups in the Philippines.[14]
Philippine Army sources state that their initial encounter with the Maute group involved a firefight in
2013 when the insurgents attacked a security checkpoint the government troops were manning
in Madalum, Lanao del Sur. The group is thought to have over 100 members and were supplied with
equipment by a foreign terrorist.[10] They are said to be affiliated with Jemaah Islamiya,[5] a Southeast
Asian Islamist terrorist group.
Although some reports indicate that the Maute group is regularly seen carrying black flags bearing
the insignia of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria,[4] Butig town mayor Ibrahim Macadato has stated
that the group is not affiliated with ISIS, but are merely armed residents.[15] However, training
manuals and other documents for militants under the Islamic State were recovered from their
captured camp, indicating that the group may be trying to link up with ISIS.[16]
Butig, the headquarters of the Maute group, is also a stronghold of the Moro Islamic Liberation
Front and both groups are tied by blood or marriage. Brothers Omar and Abdullah Maute are first
cousins of Azisa Romato, the wife of the late MILF Vice Chairman for Military Affairs Alim Abdul Aziz
Mimbantas, who is buried in Butig. The Maute brothers themselves were once members of the
MILF.[17]
As ISIS suffers setbacks in Syria and Iraq, experts warn that hundreds of fighters from Indonesia
and Malaysia will return to look for new opportunities to take the fight elsewhere, and the Maute
group's pledge of loyalty to ISIS could serve as an incentive to join ranks with the
organization.[18] Since at least 2016, reports on jihadist activities in the Philippines and of Filipino
fighters with ISIS indicate an increasing degree of coordination, cooperation, and cohesion between
Southeast Asian jihadist militants and the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.[19]

Activities