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May 26th, 2017 
Awake Goy 
nsnbc : The Philippines’ Solicitor General Jose Calida said Friday that there are foreign fighters among the ranks of the Islamic State’s franchise in the Philippines. Earlier this week the government declared martial law in Mindanao insurgents seized control of parts of the southern island.
Military checkpoint. many civilians are trying to avoid being caught up in the crossfire between ISIS insurgents a the military.
Addressing reporters on Friday, Solicitor General Jose Calida said “What is happening in Mindanao is no longer a rebellion of Filipino citizens. … It has transmogrified into an invasion of foreign fighters.” Calida added that Malaysians, Singaporians, Indonesians and other foreign fighters were in Marawi.
The Solicitor General said international jihadists had answered the call from Isnilon Hapilon, the former leader of the kidnap for ranson Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) which had pledged allegiance to Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS). Isnilon Hapilon and the Maute terrorist group are trying to establish an ISIS-province in Mindanao, Calida added.
On Tuesday President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law in Mindanao. On Thursday Philippine troops entered Mindanao to begrin a major campaign aimed to clearing out the Islamist militants. Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said that Duterte, Tuesday evening local time, conferred with Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence Go on the declaration of martial law in southern Philippines due to attacks carried out by ISIS-backed Maute terror group in Marawi City.
Military helicopters flew above the rooftops and the forest canapé in Marawi while armored vehicles were used to patrol neighborhoods. There have been isolated, sporadic incidents of gunfire and explosions. Many of Marawi’s 200,000 non-combatant citizens are fleeing to safety not to be caught in the crossfire.
The crisis began late Tuesday when Philippine security forces launched a mission to arrest militant leader Isnilon Hapilon, who was believed to be in Marawi recovering from wounds sustained in a previous clash.
The raid had to be called off after a wave of militants stormed the city and went on a rampage, burning houses, a university and Catholic churches and taking hostages, including a priest and more than a dozen others at a cathedral. The military reported that at least 11 government troops and 31 militants have been killed in the fighting.
Isnilon Hapilon – wanted internationally.
The southern Philippines, particularly the resource-rich and under-developed Mindanao region, has long been a hotbed of activity by the Abu Sayyaf and other Islamist fundamentalist groups. Hapilon has sworn allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Hapilon’s time as leader of the Abu Sayyaf terror group, which has been blamed for numerous bombings, kidnappings for ransom and beheadings in the Philippines, includes the 2004 bombing of a ferry in Manila Bay that claimed more than 100 lives. The United States has placed a $5 million bounty on his head for alleged terrorist acts against American citizens.
In an interview in the capital Manila on Tuesday, Secretary Delfin Lorenzana from the Department of National Defense (DND) told the press that the confrontation in Marawi City is focused on neutralizing Isnilon Hapilon.
Hapilon was believed wounded when the military bombed his hideout in Lanao del Sur last January. Lorenza said “They are already there. In fact the leader in Basilan, Isnilon Hapilon, is actually, I think, he is the anointed leader of the group there”. He added that Hapilon transferred to central Mindanao and organized the Maute Group.
The National Defense Department chief said “We were able to find out that he was there so we found where he was hiding, so we bomb, but unfortunately he wasn’t taken. He was wounded. And he kept dodging our operations”.
CH/L – nsnbc 26.05.2017
Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/05/26/philippines-foreign-fighters-among-insurgents-in-marawi/
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