Authorities chasing 16 more `Dawlah' men in Central Mindanao

COTABATO CITY - Authorities are tracking down 16 more accomplices of the eight detained suspects in the Sept. 2, 2016 bombing in Davao City that left 15 dead and injured more than 60 others.Seven of the eight suspects were arrested in separate operations in Cotabato City and in Maguindanao early on, resulting in the recovery of improvised explosive devices they were to set off in different spots in central Mindanao.The eighth suspect, Jericho De Roma, surrendered early Thursday, November 10, after personnel of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division and the Philippine National Police tried but failed to arrest him in their house several hours before.Major Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr., commander of 6th ID, said the voluntarily surrender of De Roma, a potential source of information pertaining to the whereabouts of his companions who are still at large, will boost the efforts of neutralizing their group, the Dawlah Islamiya.The Dawlah Islamiya, which started in Butig town in Lanao del Sur as the Maute terror group led by relatives Omar and Abdullah Maute, operates in the fashion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and is using the black ISIS flag as its revolutionary banner.Galvez said he is thankful to local officials, among them Cotabato City Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi for helping address the threats from the militant group. They were instrumental in the arrest of the seven extremists in Maguindanao and in Cotabato City last month, Galvez said.Key sources from intelligence units of 6th ID on Friday said Army agents are now helping the police locate 16 other suspects in the bombing in Davao City who are still at large.Galvez confirmed the joint Army-police operation, but declined to elaborate to prevent preempting tactical details of the hunt for the suspects.Army and police agents arrested here last October 6 bombing suspects TJ Macabalang, Wendell Facturan and Musali Mustapha in connection with the deadly Davao City bombing.Four more, Mohammad Chenikandiyil, Jackson Usi, Zack Lopez and Ansan Mamasapano were arrested in separate operations in Cotabato City and in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao before dawn last October 29.Their arrest effectively stopped them from setting off powerful IEDs while President Rodrigo Duterte was in Cotabato City in the afternoon of the same day.Duterte was at the capitol of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in Cotabato City from past 3and00 p.m. until about 5and00 p.m. on October 29 to launch various socio-economic projects intended for underdeveloped areas in troubled southern provinces.Clerics in Maguindanao, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the 16 members of the Dawlah Islamiya authorities are still searching have links with five notorious members of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).It was the five BIFF members, Salahudin Hassan, Abdulmalik Esmael, Bashir Ungab Nasser Adil and Ansari Yunos who reportedly taught the group that perpetrated the bombing in Davao City how to transport an IED from Maguindanao and detonate it in a night market there.The five men were trained by the slain Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, more known as Marwan, in fabrication and handling of EIDs.Worried of a military strike, the BIFF immediately issued a press statement, dated prior to the September 2 bombing in Davao City, purporting that the five men had been dropped from its roster of members for insubordination and for their links with prominent Middle Eastern jihadists.Local officials in Maguindanao said the five bombers, now led by Hassan, more known as Salah, are holding out in swampy areas at the boundary of Datu Piang and Salibo towns in the second district of Maguindanao.Salah and Esmael were even reported to have tested thrice in October a new kind of powerful IEDs made up of combustible liquids than can be easily procured from chemical suppliers.There are talks spreading around that there are two Malaysians and three Indonesians in their group. While the BIFF attempted to create the impression that they were already out of the BIFF before the September 2 bombing in Davao City, they can still be seen moving around with members of the same group, said a local official, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals.