Military kills terror leaders
The head of the Islamic State group in Southeast Asia, who figures on the US "most wanted terrorists" list, and one of the Maute brothers were killed on Monday in the battle to reclaim a militant-held Marawi City, officials said.
Isnilon Hapilon's reported death came during a final push to end the nearly five-month siege of Marawi, a battle that has claimed more than 1,000 lives and raised fears that IS was seeking to set up a regional base in Mindanao.
President Rodrigo Duterte and security analysts say Hapilon has been a key figure in the jihadist outfit's drive to establish a Southeast Asian caliphate as they suffer battlefield defeats in Iraq and Syria.
The military said the long-haired leader was killed in a dawn offensive alongside Omarkhayam Maute, one of two brothers who allied with Hapilon to plot the takeover of the city.
"It's a big deal for us that they were killed," Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told reporters, adding, that Hapilon's death was a symbolic blow to regional militancy because he had been declared the local emir of the Islamic State group.
Philippine military chief of staff General Eduardo Ano showed reporters a photo of what he said was Hapilon's bloodied face.
The US government had offered a $5 million bounty for information leading to Hapilon's arrest, describing the 51-year-old as a senior leader of the southern Philippines-based Abu Sayyaf group, which the US considers a "foreign terrorist organization".
Ano said Philippine ground forces launched an assault before dawn, sparking a four-hour gun battle that lead to the two leaders' deaths.
DNA tests will be carried out on the two bodies because of the reward offer from the US and Philippine governments, Lorenzana said.
"The Marawi incident is almost over and we may announce the termination of hostilities in a couple of days," Lorenzana said.
Authorities have made several previous announcements on the imminent end of the conflict, but observers believe this time the forecast is likely to be accurate.
Pro-IS gunmen occupied parts of Marawi on May 23 following a foiled attempt by security forces to arrest Hapilon, authorities said.
Since then more than 1,000 people have been killed and 400,000 residents displaced.
Duterte has imposed martial law across Mindanao to quell the militant threat.
CENTER OF GRAVITY
The insurgents have withstood a relentless USbacked bombing campaign and intense ground battles with troops that have left large parts of Marawi in ruins.
Defence chiefs last month said other militant leaders had been killed in the battle for Marawi.
Troops were still pursuing dozens of fighters in the battle zone including Indonesians and Malaysians, Ano said, after rescuing 20 hostages over the weekend with a twomonth-old baby among them.
Malaysian militant leader Mahmud Ahmad was still in Marawi, with authorities describing him as the "conduit" between IS and local militant groups.
There were still 22 hostages left along with 39 relatives of the militants, they added.
The restive Mindanao is home to a decades-old Muslim separatist insurgency and to extremist gangs that have declared allegiance to IS including the Abu Sayyaf and Maute groups.
Hapilon is believed to have been involved in the 2001 kidnappings of three Americans, two of whom were later killed.
Hapilon was based in Basilan island but authorities said in January that he had moved to the Mautes' base in Lanao del Sur province, 300 kilometers (180 miles) east, to create an alliance and to establish an IS presence there.
Marawi is Lanao del Sur's capital and largest city.
The deaths of Hapilon and Maute signal the end of the militant groups, Ano said.
"This means their centre of gravity has crumbled," he told reporters.
WARNING
However, an analyst said the deaths of the leaders would likely prompt retaliatory attacks from their followers and allies, with young leaders seeking to take their place.
"Terrorism will take a new form in the postMarawi period because these terrorist groups linked to ISIS continue to innovate and their actions are evolving," Rommel Banlaoi, chairman of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research, told AFP.
In Central Visayas, authorities assured the public that there is no spillover in the region.
“CENTCOM, in coordination with other stakeholders, is conducting proactive actions to deter any terror act from happening in the Visayas,” its spokesperson, Colonel Medel Aguilar, told The FREEMAN.
Aguilar said the threat level in the whole Visayas region remains at two and no terror movement has been monitored, so far.
Still, he said, “With the death of the two, we can also expect the weakening of their capabilities. The probability of retaliatory acts anywhere cannot be discounted.”
Chief Supt. Jose Mario Espino, director of the Police Regional Office (PRO) - 7, also said, “We will have a more peaceful situation here in PRO-7 since we are afraid, if the Marawi incident will continue, it will spillover in other provinces. With the end of the leaders definitely it will help in removing the fear of a spillover here in Central Visayas.”