3 Maute members dead in clash with soldiers

PANTAR, Lanao del Norte—Three suspected members of the homegrown terror group Maute were killed in a clash with soldiers here on Thursday.

One of them was among those who escaped from the Marawi City jail at the height of the war there between Islamic State forces and government soldiers. Senior Insp. Mohammad Doro, Pantar police chief, said soldiers of the 4th Mechanized Battalion were conducting an operation in the village of Lumba Punod when they clashed with the suspects.

Doro said two of the slain suspects remained unidentified. The other was Omar Mustapha Daiser, a resident of the village, who was among more than 100 inmates sprung by the Maute Group during the war in Marawi on May 23. —DIVINA SUSON AND RICHEL UMEL