Chatter over Telegram indicates Abdullah Maute dead – military

Abdullah Maute CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Published: 4:55 p.m., Sept. 4, 2017 | Updated: 12:30 a.m., Sept. 5, 2017

MARAWI CITY — Abdullah Maute, one of the leaders of Islamic State-inspired terrorists battling government forces for control of Marawi City, is dead, the military said on Monday.

Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez, chief of the Western Mindanao Command (Wescom), said the military had intercepted the latest communication among terrorists confirming Abdullah Maute had been killed in the war zone.

Galvez said the military got the information sent to the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group through the messaging application Telegram.

‘No 100-percent confirmation’

“Abdullah Maute is already dead. Chatter over Telegram indicates he was killed,” Galvez told reporters during a news conference here.

“There is no 100-percent confirmation until we see his body, but this is enough to presume he died already,” Galvez said.

But Abdullah’s brother, Omar, is still alive, Galvez said.

The military earlier said it also received information that Omar had been killed.

“He was wounded and is still inside the main battle area,” Galvez said.

Capt. Jo-Ann Petinglay, spokesperson for the Joint Task Force Marawi and Wescom, said the intercepted information was in Arabic, and that the military had to translate it.

Killed in airstrike

Petinglay said Abdullah Maute was killed in a military airstrike.

The information did not indicate when the terrorist leader died.

The Maute group, together with the Abu Sayyaf faction led by Isnilon Hapilon, seized parts of Marawi on May 23 to establish an IS enclave in Southeast Asia.

A military campaign to retake the city has killed more than 600 terrorists.

More than 130 soldiers and police and 45 civilians have been killed in the fighting. —With a report from the wires