2 suspected IS-linked militants nabbed in Lanao Sur – military

Map of Lumbatan,, Lanao del Sur. Google Map

MARAWI CITY – Government security forces said they have captured two suspected Islamic State-inspired militants during a raid in nearby town of Lumbatan, in Lanao del Sur.

A report provided by the Joint Task Force Ranao Tuesday identified the suspects, who were captured on Monday, as Sailanie Arsal Mamaorong, 37; and  Mama Batara, 71.

The report said combined elements of the 65th Infantry Battalion and policemen of Lumbatan town stormed the suspects’ hideout in the village of Pantar around 4:40 p.m.

Recovered from the suspects were an improvised version of a Barrett sniper’s rifle and an M203 grenade launcher.

The suspects were turned over to the police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

On July 23, policemen also arrested an alleged member of the Maute terror group in an evacuation center in Saguiaran town in Lanao del Sur.

Chief Supt. Reuben Sindac, police director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (PRO-ARMM), said Lala Arafat, 38, was positively identified by evacuees as a follower of siblings Omar and Abdullah Maute.

“He did not resist arrest but denied he was a Maute member,” Sindac said in a statement.

Arafat, a resident of Barangay Osmeña, Marawi City, was collared by police while inside an evacuation center in Saguiaran, posing as an internally displace person getting aid from government and other organizations.

Sindac said the local police was alerted by evacuees who noticed Arafat mingling with them and kept on talking about the Maute group’s stance in the siege.

In his possession were 12 identification cards carrying different names. He was unarmed.