Security tightened in Mindanao after death of Maute patriarch

LANAO DEL SUR – Authorities are on high alert against possible retaliatory attacks following the death of Cayamora Maute, patriarch of the brothers leading the terrorist group that laid siege to Marawi City.

Relatives said the Maute clan became emotional on learning about the death of Cayamora.

“The leaders of the Maute group are hooked on shabu so naturally their reasoning ability and comprehension are so bad. They do not believe he died of a natural death,” said a cousin of Farhana, mother of the Maute siblings Omar and Abdullah.

The elder Maute died of kidney failure on Sunday while detained in Manila on rebellion charges. He was arrested in June and is suspected of having assisted his sons, leaders of the Maute group, in attacking Marawi City.

Cousins of Cayamora in Marantao town warned of possible attacks on nonmilitary targets by Maute followers.

Western Mindanao Command Lt. chief Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. said all military units in the province and in other parts of central Mindanao had been alerted.

“We are not taking chances. These are terrorists and the only language they speak is terrorism,” he said.

Chief Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac, police director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said municipal police offices in Lanao del Sur and in Maguindanao are also on full alert since Sunday night, following news of Cayamora’s death.

The military said that so far, 603 militants, 45 civilians and 130 soldiers have been killed in the fighting, which has left the once thriving city of Marawi looking like war-torn Aleppo or Mosul.

The Maute group, named after the brothers who pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS), has recently been driven out of strategic areas like the main mosque and a cathedral, and reduced to a small band occupying less than a square kilometer of the city.

But their use of improvised explosives and booby traps as well as the difficulty of urban combat has slowed down the military’s progress.

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Eduardo Año said the remaining militants were “consolidating” and preparing for the military’s final assault.

Año said the troops are expecting the terrorists “to fight it out up to their last breath.”

He said they are ready to give what is expected of them.

“That’s our main goal. No way out. No way in. If they want to join… they want to go to heaven, we will give them the chance to go to heaven, he said.

On the other hand, Col. Juvymax Uy, commander of Joint Task Force Basilan (JTFB), said the troops are on the lookout for Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon who might flee Marawi for his Basilan base.

Hapilon, designated emir of IS in Southeast Asia, had planned the attack in Marawi.

The military believes Hapilon is still stuck in Marawi, fighting alongside the remaining terrorist gunmen.

Meanwhile, the AFP has deployed an all-female contingent of troops under the Civil Relations Company (CRC) to assist in the rehabilitation and relief of thousands of evacuees of Marawi City.

“The all female CRC will be deployed to Marawi to form part of the inter-agency team that shall assist in the implementation of rehabilitation and recovery program for evacuees in the battle affected city,” AFP spokesman Col. Edgard Arevalo said.