AT LEAST 30 suspected members of the Maute terror group were killed while three soldiers were wounded in three days of fighting in Piagapo town, Lanao del Sur.
Brigadier General Rolando Joselito Bautista, commanding general of 1st Infantry Division, said the fatalities included known leaders of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis)-affiliated terror group identified as Abu Imam Bantayaw, a Maute local terrorist leader based in Piagapo, and an alleged deputy commander of the armed group identified only as Mael.
The two were killed in the military offensive which began at midnight of April 21.
The dead terrorists were buried Sunday night in one of the villages of Piagapo in keeping with Islamic tradition.
Bautista said operating troops were able to seize and over run the terrorists’ main camp at Sitio Pagalungan, Barangay Gacap, Piagapo.
The camp, Bautista said, had fortified bunkers, fighting positions, and running trenches.
Bautista said soldiers also recovered the body of a foreigner as well as an Isis flag, various war materials, bomb components such as blasting caps, detonating wire, cellphones, video cameras, assorted uniforms, three motorcycles, identification cards, and a passport of an Indonesian national.
The remaining terrorists were seen making a new camp also in Piagapo town but about five kilometers closer to Camp Pukta of the Moro islamic Liberation Front under Abdullah Macapaar, alias Kumander Bravo.
Following the military operations, Mayor Ali Sumandar of Piagapo has declared the four affected barangays of Piagapo under a state of calamity after some 2,000 residents fled from the fighting.
As of Monday, April 24, the Lanao del Sur Provincial Government has reported the evacuees have doubled in number since Friday night as government soldiers continue to engage the Maute Group in a firefight.
Quoting data from the Piagapo Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management office, Salma Jayna Tamano, Lanao del Sur information officer, said a total of 1,828 individuals or about 416 families have fled their homes due to the ongoing military offensive in the area.
In Balindung town, there were at least 114 families or 616 individuals who left their homes for fear of being caught in the crossfire between the military and the Maute Group.
In Marantao town, 118 families from seven villages fled their houses and sought shelter elsewhere.
Tamano said the Provincial Social Welfare and Development has already been mobilized to respond to the plight of the evacuees as the agency is also attending to the residents of Wao and Amay Manabilang towns due to the recent earthquake.
Drieza Lininding, Bangsamoro National Movement for Peace and Development co-convenor, meanwhile, said in his Facebook page that the operation started on April 22.
Lininding said residents in Marawi City and Lanao del Sur were awakened by the sound of fighter jet and helicopters flying overhead as they heard sounds like bombs were being dropped.
“Sources reveal that the target of the said aerial operations is in Piagapo, Lanao del Sur,” he added.
Lininding said the target of the military assault is just about four kilometers away from the camp of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front leader Abdullah Macapaar, alias Commander Bravo, in Balindong.
He said the ongoing military operation will not solve the problem but it can only be achieved through political settlement.