Troops recover drugs, more weapons, bombs from terrorist camp

COTABATO CITY – Government troops who clashed with pro-ISIS militants have recovered not only a cache of weapons, but seized at least five kilos of crystal meth from the hideout of the Dawlah Islamiya fighters in Maguing town in the Muslim province of Lanao del Sur, officials announced on Thursday.

Army Lt. Gen. Alfredo Rosario, Jr., chief of the Western Mindanao Command, said soldiers have captured the terrorist camp in the village of Ilalag following fierce clashes since Tuesday that killed at least three gunmen, but the fighting also left one soldier dead and a total of five infantrymen wounded.

Photos released by the military's Western Mindanao Command to the Mindanao Examiner regional newspaper show some of the weapons recovered by troops from the pro-ISIS Dawlah Islamiya camp in Lanao del Sur's Maguing town. 

Aside from the crystal meth, Rosario said troops also recovered a total of 22 improvised explosives, anti-personnel mines, and at least 45 assorted crew-served weapons and high-powered firearms, including three .50-caliber machine guns, one .30-caliber machine gun, two M60 machine guns, twelve M16 automatic rifles, one M653 rifle, one M4 Carbine rifle, one AR15 rifle, five M14 rifles, one M4 automatic rifle, six anti-tank grenade launchers, two M203 grenade launchers, six .50-caliber sniper rifles, one M1 Garand rifle, one Browning automatic rifle, one AK47 assault rifle and a shotgun, assorted ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades, improvised rockets and ISIS flags, among others.

“Our troops averted and countered possible desperate attacks employed by the Dawlah Islamiya to inflict casualties not only to the armed forces but even the innocent civilians,” Rosario said.

Maj. Gen. Generoso Ponio, commander of the 1st Infantry Division and Joint Task Force ZamPeLan, commended the 51st and 55th Infantry Battalions for battling the terrorists and at the same time condoled with the family of the slain soldier, Pvt. Clint Rey Armada. “We dedicate this success to our brother-in-arm, Private Clint Rey Armada, who paid the ultimate sacrifice during the encounter last Tuesday,” Ponio said, adding based on the latest military report, “the armed forces have successfully overrun the enemy stronghold which can accommodate more or less 100 individuals, and recovered war materials.”

According Brig. Gen. Jose Maria Cuerpo II, commander of the 103rd Infantry Brigade based in Marawi City, the military operation actually began in January when members of the Dawlah Islamiya were monitored to have relocated from the west side to the east side of Lake Lanao, the largest lake in Mindanao.

“They perpetrated a number of bomb attacks in cellular sites here in Lanao in the latter part of 2021 and early this year. We received a report that the remaining members of Dawlah Islamiya-Maute Group in Lanao provinces and Dawlah Islamiya-Hassan Group from Maguindanao are reorganizing in the target area hence the conduct of close air support followed by the combat operations,” Cuerpo revealed, saying the terrorists were planning to carry out attacks during the holy month of Ramadan and the upcoming national and local polls.

The Moro Islamic Liberation, which signed a peace accord with Manila in 2014, said the fighting was between them and security forces and accused the military of attacking their members in Maguing town.

MILF chieftain Murad Ebrahim, who is also the governor of the Muslim autonomous region, issued a statement late Wednesday saying: “The regional government is making sure that the on-going ceasefire between the MILF and the Armed Forces of the Philippines will produce positive outcomes and provide permanent resolution to the conflict. “We are optimistic that no further confrontation will take place.”

“Our dear constituents in Maguing, Lanao del Sur have been troubled, from military airstrikes, and most recently, firefight incident that involved members of the military force and forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. As of writing, the incident has claimed several lives. And has forced some of our constituents to flee their homes and find shelter, and nearby areas,” he added.

But Lt. Col. Palawan Miondas, a spokesman for the 103rd Infantry Brigade, said those killed in the fighting were terrorists and members of the Dawlah Islamya and the Maute Group which were also involved in the deadly siege of Marawi in May 23, 2017 that lasted five months.

He said the terrorist lairs were also near an illegal camp of the MILF. “We are sure that those terrorists are members of the Dawlah Islamiya,” Miondas said.

The acronym of the group’ full Arabic name is al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi al-Iraq wa al-Sham, translated as “Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (or the Levant).” (Mindanao Examiner)