NBI: IS widow recruited Indian nationals to fight in Mindanao

The liberation of Marawi from the clutches of Islamic State (IS)-inspired terrorists does not mean government can now relax and let its guard down as there are still some elements trying to extend the life of the rebellion in Marawi City, Malacañang said yesterday.

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella in a press briefing said the government is continuing its efforts to hunt down individuals who are trying to sow terror in the country.

"The arrest of Karen Aizha Hamidon by the agents of the National Bureau of Investigation underscores that we cannot let our guard down

in the fight against terrorism as some remnants of the forces of evil are still at large," Abella said.

"Our efforts to hunt down extremist elements who want to sow fear and terror, and want to maintain peace and order in the community, continue," he added.

Abella urged Filipinos to stay alert and inform authorities of suspicious elements who may be possible threats to public safety.

He explained that it took a while for authorities to arrest Hamidon because the intelligence community was verifying information relayed by the Indian government.

IS recruiter India’s National Intelligence Agency tracked down Hamidon in the Philippines and had been in contact with Philippine authorities since August after obtaining information that she was recruiting Indian nationals to go to Syria and join the Islamic State.

NBI Director Dante Gierran said the 36-year-old widow of slain Ansar Khalifa Philippines (AKP) leader Mohammad Jaafar Maguid said successfully recruited Indian nationals to come to the Philippines and join the radical Islamic extremist groups in Mindanao.

Hamidon, according to Gierran, is also a known associate of Musa Cerantonio, an Australian Islamist preacher who has inspired numerous foreigners to join the ISIS.

Maguid is the principal suspect in the September, 2016 Davao City night market bombing and believed behind the foiled bombing near the United States Embassy along Roxas Boulevard in December last year.

Maguid who trained under Malaysian terrorist bomb maker Zulkifli bin Hir (Marwan) was killed in Sarangani nine months ago.

Red-handed Gierran said Hamidon used online messaging applications to recruit foreign terrorists to join the Maute group in Marawi and to fight the government.

Examination on Hamidon's mobile phone showed she made 296 more posts of the same message promoting the rebellion.

The NBI placed her under watch after she posted statements on various public groups in the social media application "Telegram," calling on Muslims to come to the Philippines and join the fight in Marawi City in order to establish an ISIS wilayah, or province.

On the day of her arrest on October 11 in her house in Taguig city by operatives of the NBI-Counter Terrorism Division (NBI-CTD), she made this post:

"The soldiers of Taghut are desperate to defeat the Muhajireen of the Islamic State of Marawi City… but Wallahi they won’t be successful. They won’t be able to defeat the force of Dawlah because Allah (Azza wa Jaal is on their side)."

"That is why the Dawlah is once again inviting all our ikhwaanil Muslimeen in all parts of the Philippines and around the world to support our Muhajireen of East Asia. Let us go to Marawi, in Mindanao to join the war against the Conquerors of the soldiers of Tawagheet."

Hamidon is facing 14 counts of inciting a rebellion or insurrection before the Department of Justice.