ZAMBOANGA CITY – The SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S. terrorism monitor, has reported Saturday that Islamic militants attacked the houses of apostates in the southern Filipino province of Basilan.
Quoting an IS report, it said: “The Islamic State (IS) reported in Naba 129 that fighters on Basilan Island in the Philippines stormed the homes of apostates and killed them.”
The Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium also reported the same information and said “Islamic State releases newspaper Al Naba 129 on 27 April 2018 – Battles South of Damascus, Syria; ISK attack in Kabul, Afghanistan; Basilan, Philippines Claim.”
Access to the news on both sites and details of the reports are exclusive to paying subscribers. It was unknown how many people were killed or whether the victims were all Muslims or not, but the province is under the Muslim autonomous region.
There was no immediate reports both from the Philippine military and police on the reported attacks. Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman also said he had no reports about the attack and suggested it could be a propaganda by IS. “We have no reports about it. Baka propaganda lang nila yan,” he told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
But it was the second time since last year that IS claimed deadly attacks in the Philippines.
In June 2017, IS, in a quick communique, took responsibility for the lone wolf attack at the casino of the Resorts World Manila which U.S. President Donald Trump called it a “terrorist attack.”
At least 3 dozen people were killed in the attack that the Islamic State claimed was carried out by a lone Filipino gunman, the 42-year old Jessie Carlos, whose nom de guerre was Abul Al-Kahir al-Arkhabili. It said the daring attack was carried out by one of its jihadists who later shot himself in the head in one of the hotel rooms after setting fire gambling tables and carpets that suffocated the victims.
The Islamic State, in a statement released through its Amaq News Agency, said: “With God’s help, our brother Abul Khayr al-Arkhabili managed to hide with his machine gun among a group of Christians, who fight Islam, inside a Resorts World resort in Manila, Philippines, where he opened fire on them, killing and injuring about 100 of them, until he, eventually, died as a martyr.”
Police said Carlos was a heavily indebted due to gambling and strongly denied the IS claim that he was a jihadist. (Mindanao Examiner)
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