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BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Monday, October 16, 2017
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MANILA – Two leaders of Islamic State-inspired extremists who laid siege to Marawi City were killed by government forces on Monday morning, Defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana announced.
Omar Maute and Isnilon Hapilon perished in armed clash while state troops were trying to recover the last remaining Maute stronghold in the city, Lorenzana told a news conference in Camp Aguinaldo on Monday.
Two remains matched with photos of Maute and Hapilon but these have yet to undergo a confirmatory DNA test, Lorenzana said.
“We have received a report from AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) ground commanders in Marawi that (Maute and Hapilon) were killed in an operation,” said the Defense secretary. “Their bodies were recovered by our operating units.”
Even with this development, Lorenzana said there is no immediate plan to lift the martial law in Mindanao.
“We will announce the termination of hostilities once government forces have ensured that there are no more terrorist-stragglers in the city and we have cleared all structures of IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and other traps,” he said.
Hapilon, leader of the Abu Sayyaf Group based in Basilan, is the purported emir of the IS in Southeast Asia. Omar, on the other hand, is one of the leaders of the Maute terror group.
The conflict in Marawi started on May 23 when state forces tried to arrest Hapilon./PN
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