ZAMBOANGA CITY – Police commandos backed by army soldiers arrested three women with links to the pro-ISIS group Abu Sayyaf in the southern Philippine province of Basilan, officials said Saturday.
Officials said the trio were wives of Abu Sayyaf sub-leaders Pasil Bayali and Mudzfar, were captured on Thursday evening, June 15, in the village of Lower Lanote in Isabela City after security forces tracked down their hideout.
Army Col. Frederick Sales, commander of an anti-terror task force, said two of the women – Marilyn Lasigan Bayali, 46; and Madarang Jahirul Bayali, 44; – were wives of Bayali, who remains at-large. The third woman, Nurmina Anisa, 20, is the widow of Mudzfar, who was killed in previous clashes with security forces.
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| Photos released by the military to The Mindanao Examiner Regional Newspaper show recovered explosives and rifle from the three Abu Sayyaf women in Isabela City. |
He said troops also recovered a powerful improvised explosive fashioned from two 81mm mortar bombs, one of them was complete with blasting cap, detonator and concrete nails; and one M16A1 automatic rifle and a magazine, and a cell phone.
Sales provided no other details about the women or whether they were plotting to bomb civilian or military targets, but Army Lt. Gen. Roy Galido, chief of the Western Mindanao Command, said military operations were continuing in the Muslim province against terrorist groups.
“Your armed forces will not stop supporting our partners from the police and other law enforcement agencies in suppressing criminality in Western and Central Mindanao. I commend the troops of Joint Task Force Basilan and our police counterparts for this successful operation,” he said. (Mindanao Examiner)
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