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| President Rodrigo Duterte and Troops in Marawi City, photo compiled from Google |
Si Hapilon at Maute ay parehong namatay sa isang rescue operation ng mga sundalo ng gobyerno sa Marawi City, na naging lugar ng mabangis na firefight at aerial bombing mula pa noong Mayo 23. Patay ang pinuno ng Maute habang naka ICU confinement pagkatapos ng pagrereklamo ng matinding sakit, 2 buwan na ang nakararaan.
Ipinahayag ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte ang pagpapalaya sa Marawi noong Oktubre 17 kasunod ng pagkamatay ng dalawang nangungunang teroristang lider ng teroristang Islamist na sumalakay sa lungsod.
Sinabi ni Duterte ang pahayag sa kanyang ikapitong pagbisita sa mga sundalo sa lungsod ng digmaan.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby declare Marawi City liberated from the terrorist influence that marks the beginning of the rehabilitation of the city,” Sinabi ni Duterte sa mga sundalo ng pamahalaan na nakipaglaban sa grupo ng Maute.
“My problem now is the many wounded. Some are injured and heavily wounded. I can guarantee you. I am telling you, no one will be left behind. Everyone will have a place.” dagdag pa nito.
Ang pagpatay sa dalawang lider ng terorista sa Marawi City ay nakikita na magdadala ng kapayapaan at pagpapaunlad ng ekonomiya sa digmaan ng Marawi City at sa nalalabing bahagi ng Mindanao, habang naghahanda ang pamahalaan sa huling mga buwan para sa muling pagtatayo ng lungsod, sa ganap na kooperasyon ng lokal na komunidad.
“Good! Now we will finally have peace in Mindanao!” sinabi ni Vicente Lao, chairman ng MBC, sa isang text message noong Lunes, na tumugon sa pagkamatay ng pinuno ng Abu Sayyaf na si Isnilon Hapilon at ng pinuno ng Maute group na si Omar Maute.
Sa pahayag na ito, sinabi ni Lao na ang business community sa Mindanao ay positibo na dahil ang rehiyon ay malapit nang makita ang paglago.
“Now the Muslim areas can experience growth and investment like the rest of the country,” pahayag ni Lao.
Ang operasyong militar ng Pilipinas laban sa ISIS sa Marawi ay nagkakahalaga ng $ 70 milyon hanggang ngayon. Higit sa 300,000 mga Pilipino ang nawalan sa pamamagitan ng labanan, ayon sa mga awtoridad ang mga namatay ay, 824 rebelde, 47 sibilyan at 162 militar.
Ang pagpapatakbo ng militar at paglilinis ay ginagawa pa dahil ang ilan sa natitirang walang humpay na mga terorista ay may hawak pa ng halos 20 na bihag.
Narito naman ang kwento ng Commando Group na nakapatay kay Isnilon at Omar Maute na isinulat ni Zam Yusa:
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| Members of the commando group who successfully neutralized Isnilon Hapilon and Omar Maute, photo from GeoPolitics |
KOTA KINABALU: The commando group that killed the Islamic State (IS) terror network’s Southeast Asian emir Isnilon Hapilon and fellow militant leader Omar Maute have given a detailed account of the dramatic ambush at Marawi city recently.
The surprise attack on the duo in the southern Philippine city was carried out past midnight on Monday by the Philippines’ 8th Scout Ranger Company.
In the heat of the action they did not even know who they had killed until sunrise, reported cdodev.com, a community website of Cagayan de Oro city.
It said the company’s leader, who addressed himself only as “Destroyer”, had given the account of what happened in Tagalog on its Facebook page.
Two teams of the ranger company were positioned at both ends of a road following intelligence from escaped hostages that some of the terrorists who had invaded the city would be using the path to escape the Philippine forces’ dragnet.
Each team was equipped with an armoured vehicle and thermal night-vision capability.
At around 1.30am, the rangers opened fire upon seeing one of the militants passing the road, killing him. Not long after, another terrorist along the same path was also gunned down.
A few of their fellow militants tried to recover the downed men only to be met with shots fired by the commandos which sent them fleeing.
The commandos only retrieved the two bodies at dawn.
Some female hostages who had escaped from the terrorists then identified the remains as belonging to Isnilon and Omar.
“The rangers shouted in jubilation,” the cdodev.com report said. “They couldn’t believe the men they had killed were the highly sought militant leaders.”
Both Isnilon, who was also wanted by the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom), and Omar had reportedly offered a huge sum of money to some hostages to arrange a boat for them to make a getaway.
Destroyer also said a photo of the company in front of a damaged building in Marawi uploaded with the Facebook posting was in honour of their colleagues “who were lost”.
“Almost half of our company was lost. They were either killed or injured,” he said.
A former Malaysian army commando, who is now a security consultant told FMT that the company had used a standard “flanking” ambush technique.
“It’s good that the rangers had had reliable intel on the enemy’s planned move, so they could place their attacking elements in the best flanking positions.
“With the flanking system, enemies have nowhere to go when under fire, except back the way they come, if they can do so in time,” he said on condition of anonymity.
Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte today announced that Marawi city had “been liberated from terrorists”.
Military spokesman Maj Gen Restituto Padilla said 20 to 30 terrorists, whom he called “stragglers”, still remained in the city.
This number included six to eight foreign nationals, including Malaysia’s most wanted terrorist Mahmud Ahmad, who is suspected to have arranged financing for the militants’ siege on the city which began in May.
Padilla also said that the terrorists still held some 20 hostages.
The government said operations were ongoing to get the remnants of militants, including Mahmud, who has been touted to succeed Isnilon as the IS’ emir for Southeast Asia.
Source: geopolitics.co
