Maute financier believed killed

MANILA -- A Malaysian terrorist who helped lead and finance the siege of Marawi City in Mindanao is believed to have been killed, as the Maute terror group becomes increasingly constricted after a month of fighting, the military chief said Friday, June 23.

General Eduardo Año told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that Malaysian Mahmud bin Ahmad was wounded in the fighting in Marawi last month and reportedly died on June 7 of his wounds.

He said the military has a general idea of where the terrorist was buried and troops are trying to locate the exact spot with the help of civilians to recover the remains and validate the intelligence that was received.

A local terrorist leader, Omarkhayam Maute, also is believed to have been killed in the early days of intense fighting, he said.

Ano, citing intelligence shared by foreign counterparts, said Mahmud was suspected of channeling more than P30 million ($600,000) from the Islamic State group to acquire firearms, food and other supplies for the attack.

A former Malaysian university professor who later turned into a jihadi and received training in Afghanistan, Mahmud appeared in a video showing terrorist leaders planning the Marawi siege in a hideout, a sign of his key role in the uprising. The AP obtained a copy of the video, which was seized by Filipino troops in a bandit hideout on May 23.

Malaysian security officials have also received information of Mahmud's killing in Marawi and were trying to confirm it.

Two other leaders of the uprising, top Filipino terror suspect Isnilon Hapilon and Maute's brother, Abdullah, were still with other gunmen fighting in Marawi, Año said.