MARAWI CITY – Government troops killed 4 members of the ISIS-affiliated Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in fierce clashes and arrested an ISIS supporter in the troubled province of Maguindanao in southern Philippines, officials said Wednesday.
Army Capt. Arvin Encinas, an army spokesman, said the fighting erupted in Pusoa village in Shariff Saydona Mustapha town on Tuesday. He said troops were hot on the trail of a band of BIFF members following a clash last week in Tukanalipao village in Mamasapano town.
The four slain fighters were identified as Badrodin Haron, Ali Abdul Malik, Badrudin Kalun Mabang, and Mohaiden Mando. The fighting lasted 4 hours, he said.
Security forces also raided a hideout of an alleged ISIS supporter Kamarudin Raguiab and arrested him in Dimapatoy village in Datu Odin Sinsuat town. Soldiers and policemen seized a small cache of weapons, including a Daesh flag, according to Encinas.
He said troops recovered the following weapons – one Barrett sniper rifle, one FAL rifle, an M16 rifle with a grenade launcher, one M653 rifle, one Ak-47 assault rifle, one B40 anti-tank rocket, one M2 carbine, two shot guns, one .45-caliber pistol and four improvised explosives and a rifle grenade.
Encinas said authorities were interrogating Raguiab in an effort to extract information about the local ISIS group which occupied Marawi City in Lanao del Sur.
Lt. Col. Emmanuel Garcia, commander of the military’s 4th Civil Relations Group, said the number of militants still holed out in Marawi continue to dwindle after troops killed over 130 fighters since clashes began on May 23. But dozens of soldiers were also killed and wounded in the fighting.
He said many others were also captured by security forces as troops continue to advance deep into the city where enemy snipers had been taken down one by one by the military’s air and land operations. “The only escape for the enemies is to surrender peacefully to the authorities and preserved their life,” he said. (Rhoderick Beñez)
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