PHL, Australia to lead newly formed group aimed at choking financing for militant networks in region

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Announcement comes as Malaysia makes public arrest of 20 terrorists funding militants in the Philippines

Smoke billows from destroyed buildings after government troops fired mortars at local terrorists’ positions in Marawi on the southern island of Mindanao on October 15, 2017. / AFP / Ferdinand Cabrera/

The Philippines Anti-Money Laundering Council and Australia’s financial intelligence agency AUSTRAC will lead an alliance between Southeast Asian countries and Australia aimed at choking financing for militant networks, Canberra said Wednesday, as Malaysian authorities revealed 20 militants who were financing terrorists in the Philippines had been arrested.

Australian Justice Minister Michael Keenan said the South East Asia Counter Terrorism Financing Working Group was formed amid concerns about the Islamic State group gaining a foothold in the region.

Under the initiative, participating states will “directly target and disrupt the funding lifeline of terrorist groups” by denying them access to the international financial system and other sources of funding, Keenan said.

“The stability and security of Southeast Asia is of critical importance to Australia,” said Keenan, who also assists Australian Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull on counter-terrorism issues.

Australia has been sharing intelligence with some Southeast Asian countries for many years but those arrangements need to be institutionalized, Keenan told reporters.

“We all know that the key weapon that we have in this war against terrorism is information. And… we must find ways that it is shared seamlessly and shared in a timely way.”

Canberra “is committed to defeating the threat posed by terrorist groups, including ISIL, in the region,” he added, referring to IS by another name.

Terrorists in PHL being funded

The announcement of the new alliance came as the head of the Malaysian police counter-terrorism division announced that Kuala Lumpur had arrested 20 suspected militants involved in terrorist financing activities this year.

“They’re channeling money through Daesh members in Syria to Daesh members in Philippines,” Ayub Khan Mydin Pitchay told reporters, using another name for IS.

“Some of them are businessmen. Some of them they sold their house, their property. They are involved in small businesses,” he said, adding that they used legal banking channels to transfer the funds.

He added there was still no confirmation that Malaysia’s Amin Baco, dubbed the new “emir” of IS in southeast Asia, was among those killed in Marawi.

Amin, involved in militant activities in the region since 2001, was supposed to have replaced Filipino militant Isnilon Hapilon, the leader of the Marawi seige who has been confirmed killed by Philippine troops.

“Amin Baco, he is an experienced chap… he’s one of the bomb experts. The most important thing is he is married to one of the daughters of Isnilon Hapilon,” Ayub Khan added.

IS militants seized the southern Philippine city of Marawi in May, a move Philippine officials and analysts say was part of the group’s plan to establish a base in the region.

Dozens of Australians were also killed in a militant attack on the Indonesian resort island of Bali in 2002, one of the worst such attacks in the region.

Earlier this year, Australia sent two Orion aircraft to provide surveillance support to Philippine troops in their bloody five-month battle with militants in Marawi. Agence France-Presse