Singaporeans among foreign fighters involved in IS-linked insurgency

DAVAO CITY: Singaporeans are among the foreign fighters who are involved in the Islamic State (IS)-linked insurgency in the southern Philippine city of Marawi, the military said yesterday.

“Certain foreign elements have been in the country for a long time, aiding these terrorists in skills related to terrorism, related to bomb making,” spokesman Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla told reporters at a briefing.

“There are also Malaysians, Singaporeans, in the fighting in Marawi... a number of them have been killed.

“There is certain information which confirms the killing of 12 militants, and half of that number are foreigners -Malaysians, Indonesians, and others,” added Brig-Gen Padilla.

He noted that foreign terrorists have been among those militants killed in military operations in the last few months, adding that the Philippines has been communicating with the governments of these foreign nationals to render assistance as necessary.

More than 100 Maute Islamic militants laid seige on Tuesday to Marawi, a Muslim city in the largely Catholic Philippines, seizing the main road and bridges, torching buildings and holding hostages.

President Rodrigo Duterte has declared martial law in Mindanao, the southern island group where Marawi is located and the army has moved into the city to dislodge the militants.

Maute was named after two brothers who studied at Islamic schools in the Middle East Omarkhayam and Abdullah Maute.

The group has pledged allegiance to IS and was blamed for a bomb attack on a market in Davao City last year, killing 15 people.

“Before it was just a local terrorist group. But now they have subscribed to the ideology of IS,” Solicitor-General Jose Calida told Friday’s news conference.

“They want to make Mindanao part of the caliphate.”