A Malaysian militant and former university professor who allegedly funded the Islamist militants in Marawi City was among those killed by government forces in the besieged city, according to intelligence information received by the government forces as fighting entered its second month.
Wire reports from the Associated Press quoted Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Eduardo Ano as saying that Malaysian Mahmud bin Ahmad, who reportedly channeled more than $600,000 or P30 million from the IS group for the Marawi attack, was wounded in the fighting last month and reportedly died on June 7.
This was based from intelligence information which the military had received.
Aside from Mahmud, the military is also verifying reports that one of the Maute brothers, Omarkhayam Maute, had been killed.
The military is asking the help of the locals in Marawi to reportedly pinpoint the location where the Malaysian Mahmud was buried.
Task Force Marawi spokesman Lt. Col. Jo-Ar Herrera said they are still confirming the intelligence information they received about Mahmud’s death.
Western Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. and AFP Public Affairs Office chief Col. Edgard Arevalo, also said that they received reports that Omar Maute was killed.
We are still validating this. We have the report last week, but we could not just confirm this because if indeed he was killed in an airstrike, his body could have been blown to pieces,” he said.
The military has confirmed that Mahmud was among those who had planned the Marawi attack as he had been seen in a video along with the Maute brother Abdullah, and Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon, in a video that the military had obtained.
“The video actually is footage of the planning stages, of the actual plan of the group, to take over Marawi, to seal off some entry points and exit points, and at the same time keep it and declare it as their area. The conversation there also discussed the possibility of or the need for creating more damage and sowing terror in the heartland of Marawi,” said Brig. General Restituto Padilla.
“So in essence what we have discovered proves earlier findings that the presence of (Isnilon) Hapilon and his cohorts in Marawi was not only because of wanting to seek treatment for an illness, or to be there to connect with other terrorist elements, but was actually a prelude to a bigger event that I just described,” he said in an earlier interview with Reuters.
The battle for Marawi has raised concerns that Islamic State, on the back foot in Syria and Iraq, is building a regional base on the Philippine island of Mindanao that could pose a threat to neighboring Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore too.
Officials said that, among the several hundred militants who seized the town on May 23, there were about 40 foreigners from Indonesia and Malaysia but also fighters from India, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Chechnya.
“Apparently there has already been a connection with all these groups. They have banded together to create and sow havoc in various areas, but particularly Marawi City. And our presumption and our analysts say that this is in compliance with the last requirement they would like to have regarding their attempt to get recognition from the bigger group, Daesh (a commonly used Arabic acronym for Islamic State). So what they have in mind is a final event hopefully to fulfil that requirement”
on Thursday (June 22), foreign ministers and top military officials from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia held talks in Manila on improving security amid growing concerns about insurgencies in the Southeast Asian region.
Officials held a closed-door meeting and discussed a range of security issues, including the most recent incident in the southern Philippine city of Marawi where government forces are battling to recapture areas held by Islamic State-linked militants for more than five weeks ago.
(With reports from AP, Reuters)
