2 Sayyafs who helped ISIS suicide bomber yield, get gov’t aid

PAGADIAN CITY -Special Forces soldiers are holding two Abu Sayyaf fighters linked by the military to an ISIS suicide bombing in the restive province of Basilan that killed at least 11 people in July 2018. 

The duo - Suwaib Mungkay alias Black and Nakib Asmad alias Halifa – surrendered to the 4^th Special Forces Battalion in the town of Hadji Mohammad Ajul on February 20, but the military’s Western Mindanao Command only announced this over the weekend.

Military photos released to the Zamboanga Post newspaper show the two Abu Sayyaf fighters after they surrendered to the 4th Special Forces Battalion in Basilan province. 

“The surrender was facilitated by the troops of the 4^th Special Forces Battalion, 19^th Special Forces Company, and the local government of Hadji Mohammad Ajul,” it said, adding, the pro-ISIS members also yielded a rifle and a pistol.

Brig. Gen. Fernando Reyeg, commander of the Joint Task Force Basilan, confirmed the surrender of the militants. “Mungkay and Asmad were involved in the Lamitan bombing last July 31, 2018,” he said.

Both Mungkay and Asmad - despite their involvement in the deadly attack carried out by Moroccan ISIS soldier Abu Katheer al Maghribi – were handed over to the custody of town officials “for their inclusion in the government programs for the rebel returnees.”

Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, chief of the Western Mindanao Command, praised the militants’ surrender. “As I always say, peace is a shared responsibility. I am happy that our partners and stakeholders are always there to support us in our peace campaigns. Through our convergence, we are able to sustain the momentum and attain positive results in our journey towards peace and sustainable development here in the region,” he said.

Maghribi, who fought alongside the Abu Sayyaf, detonated a truck loaded with explosives  at a security checkpoint after government militias stopped the suspicious vehicle on a village, about 2 kilometers away from downtown Lamitan.

The powerful explosion obliterated the vehicle and left a huge crater and among those killed were a woman and a child; and the militia commander whose unit was under the supervision of the Philippine Army. Five soldiers and several civilians were also wounded in the explosion.

In July 2019, security forces captured an Abu Sayyaf bomber, Isnaji Hasim, who was behind a deadly attack in Zamboanga City in January 2015 and among those who helped the Moroccan carry out the bombing.

Hasim was tracked down in his hideout in Zamboanga Sibugay’s Naga town. He was a henchman of notorious Abu Sayyaf leader Puruji Indama in Basilan, one of 5 provinces under the Muslim autonomous region. He was behind the car bombing outside a bus terminal in Guiwan village that killed 2 people and wounded nearly five dozens more. 

Another Abu Sayyaf bomber Hashim Saripa who also facilitated the ISIS suicide bombing remains at large. (Zamboanga Post)

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