Mohammad Noaim Maute. PHOTO from PNP
MARAWI, Philippines – Government agents are questioning an alleged member of the Maute Islamist group arrested in Cagayan de Oro Thursday morning.
Brig. Gen. Gilbert Gapay, military spokesman for martial law implementation in Mindanao, said Mohammad Noaim Maute was “undergoing investigation.”
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Maute, who is described as a bomber of the group fighting government forces in Marawi City, was nabbed in the village of Macasindag at 5:30 a.m.
How he managed to escape the supposed tight military cordon around Marawi, where the military is carrying out punishing air strikes, remains unexplained.
“Subject is a suspected bomber of the Maute terrorist group,” Gapay said. “The subject person is currently undergoing investigation.”
Two older Maute brothers, the Islamic firebrands Omarkhayam and Abdullah, are believed still fighting government forces in a small section of Marawi. They are believed leading a group of Southeast Asian fighters including Malaysian, Singaporians and Indonesians.
They were supposedly backing Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon, the acknowledged emir of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in the region. CBB/rga