Suspected Indonesian terrorist nabbed in Sultan Kudarat

SULTAN KUDARAT --- Authorities are in custody of an undocumented Indonesian national held on suspicion of having links with a local militant group operating in the fashion of the Islamic State.The 32-year-old Mushalah Somina Rasim, also known as Abu Omar, voluntarily turned himself him Monday when asked by personnel of the Palimbang municipal police and intelligence agents of the 5thMarine Battalion to yield for proper identity verification.Key sources from units of the 1stMarine Brigade in Lebak, Sultan Kudarat said Tuesday Rasim was nabbed in one of the barangays in nearby Palimbang, a seaside town in the same province.It was in Palimbang where the Ansar Al-Khilafa Philippines, boasting of loyalty to the Islamic State, first emerged in 2014.Its camp in Barangay Butril, Palimbang was overran by combatants of the Philippine Marine Corps two years ago following an encounter that left seven militants dead and resulted in the recovery of firearms and improvised explosive devices left by their fleeing companions.Senior Superintendent Raul Supiter of the Sultan Kudarat provincial police confirmed the detention of Rasim, but declined to elaborate citing operational protocols set by their higher headquarters in Camp Crame and the Regional Police Office-12 in Gen. Santos City. There are also transnational security cooperation efforts between our government and the Indonesian government. Our superiors will initiate proper procedures with regards to that, Supiter said.Senior members of the Sultan Kudarat inter-agency provincial peace and order council said Tuesday they will prod their presiding chairman, Gov. Pax Mangudadatu, to ask the Indonesian Consulate in Davao City to help the Philippine National Police investigate on Rasim’s real persona. (John Unson)