IS fighters storm fugitives’ lair in Basilan – report

ZAMBOANGA CITY: The SITE Intelligence Group, a US terrorism monitor, reported on Saturday that Islamic State (IS)-inspired militants attacked the houses of apostates in Basilan and allegedly killed them.

Quoting an IS report, it said: “The Islamic State (IS) reported in Naba 129 that fighters on Basilan Island in the Philippines stormed the homes of apostates and killed them.”

The Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium also reported the same information and said “Islamic State releases newspaper Al Naba 129 on 27 April 2018 – Battles South of Damascus, Syria; ISK attack in Kabul, Afghanistan; Basilan, Philippines Claim.”

Access to the news on both sites and details of the reports are exclusive to paying subscribers. It was not known how many people were killed or whether the victims were all Muslims.

There was no immediate statement both from the Philippine military and police on the reported attacks.

Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao also told the regional newspaper MindanaoExaminer , “We have no reports about it. Maybe it’s just IS propaganda,” he told the regional newspaper MindanaoExaminer.

But it was the second time since last year that IS claimed deadly attacks in the Philippines.

In June 2017, the IS, in a statement, took responsibility for the lone wolf attack at the casino of the Resorts World Manila.

At least three dozens people were killed in the attack that the IS claimed was carried out by a lone Filipino gunman – Jessie Carlos – whose nom de guerre was Abul Al-Kahir al-Arkhabili. It said the daring attack was carried out by one of its jihadists who later shot himself in the head in one of the hotel rooms after setting afire gambling tables and carpets that suffocated the victims.

The Islamic State, in a statement released through its Amaq News Agency, said: “With God’s help, our brother Abul Khayr alArkhabili managed to hide with his machine gun among a group of Christians who fight Islam inside a Resorts World resort in Manila, Philippines, where he opened fire on them, killing and injuring about 100 of them, until he, eventually, died as a martyr.”

Police said Carlos had huge casino gambling debts and strongly denied the IS claim that he was a jihadist.