Egyptian child fighter yields

GROUP PHOTO Military officers, in this photo circulated Friday, pose with Abu Sayyaf fighters, among them a 13-year-old Egyptian, who surrendered to authorities this week. —PHOTO FROM POLICE REGIONAL OFFICE-BANGSAMORO AUTONOMOUS REGION IN MUSLIM MINDANAO

ZAMBOANGA CITY—An Egyptian child warrior and two other fighters of the Sulu-based faction of the kidnap-for-ransom and terror group Abu Sayyaf surrendered to military authorities this week.

The 13-year-old boy named “Ibrahim” and Abu Sayyaf subleader Magang Ellam, 28, who both belonged to the faction led by the reclusive Radullan Sahiron, turned themselves over to the Army’s 1103rd Infantry Brigade in Indanan town on Wednesday, the Armed Forces of the Philippines revealed on Friday.

Ibrahim and Ellam handed over an M16 rifle, an M16A1 rifle, a magazine, and 20 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition.

On Thursday, a certain Tigong, 41, the top aide of the late subleader Idang Susukan, also surrendered to the 2nd Special Forces Battalion in Talipao town, bringing along his M14 Garand rifle.

“The young Ibrahim is the last juvenile foreign terrorist on the periodic list of the military,” said Maj. Gen. Ignatius Patrimonio, commander of the Army’s 11th Infantry Division.

The young Egyptian, according to Patrimonio, had been in the Abu Sayyaf’s stable of fighters since he was 10 years old. He suffered injuries in the head and right forearm from several encounters he had joined, Patrimonio added.

Ibrahim is believed to have entered the country via Manila in 2017 as a tourist, together with his stepfather, mother, and two brothers. They first settled in Basilan and later transferred to Sulu in 2018 to join the Abu Sayyaf faction of Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan who was believed to be training suicide bombers, including foreigners.

At this time also, the military’s Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) had said they were tracking several foreigners on suspicion of having joined the Abu Sayyaf.

The military said that his mother, Reda, blew herself up in a suicide bombing attack on a military checkpoint in Kilometer 3, Barangay Kajatian of Indanan town on Sept. 8, 2019.

Abduramil, his stepfather, and his brother, Abdurahman, died in an encounter in Barangay Kan Islam, Indanan town, on Nov. 7, 2019, while another brother, Yusof, was killed in a clash in Igasan village, Patikul town, on April 17, 2021, the military added.

No vacationPatrimonio said that during a custodial debriefing, Ibrahim had expressed resentment against his mother for drafting him and his brothers into terrorism.“He thought that they were just going on a vacation trip in the Philippines [in 2017], but he was [eventually] forced to join the Abu Sayyaf,” Patrimonio added.

The Wesmincom has no information on where the family lived before coming to the country in 2017.

According to Maj. Andrew Linao, Wesmincom public affairs chief, Ibrahim would continue to be in military hands until after tactical interrogation was done.

Linao added that Ibrahim would “naturally be returned to his relatives” but did not elaborate. It was also not known if the Egyptian Embassy has been contacted about the boy’s surrender. Ellam, meanwhile, was recruited as a child warrior in 2009 when he was just 15 years old. He used to be Sahiron’s close-in security and the group’s guide in the Patikul area. He figured in clashes with government forces from 2009 to 2021.

Col. Christopher Tampus, commanding officer of the Army’s 1103rd Infantry Brigade, said that Ellam, like Ibrahim, was in their custody.

READ: Egyptian bombmaker, 2 Sayyaf bandits killed in clash with soldiers in Sulu