Straggler spotted inside Marawi main battle area

MARAWI CITY -- A lone straggler attempted to sneak out of Marawi City’s main battle area around 1:30 p.m., Thursday, November 2.

Colonel Romeo Brawner, Jr., deputy commander of Task Force Marawi, said the suspected extremist fighter jumped into a canal near the Grand Mosque after being seen by soldiers.

Brawner said with three other soldiers, they chased the straggler but the man was able to duck inside a tunnel used extensively by the extremists in the fighting against government forces.

Brawner said he was with a TV crew in a supposedly cleared area when the TV reporter saw the straggler about ten meters away.

"We fired our rifles towards the straggler who managed to hide in a suspected tunnel. The government forces continue its clearing operations. There might be few armed stragglers that are still hiding in tunnels who wanted to escape but the militray forces are closely watching the possible exits from the main battle area," Brawner said.

Brawner said the right hand of killed Abu Sayaff leader Isnilon Hapilon and another member of the Maute-Isis group were killed by the government forces in the main battle area on Wednesday, November 1, a few hours after the Barangay Police Auxiliary team of Locsadatu nabbed a suspected fighter later identified as Mohammad Ilham Syahputra of Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia.

"The military authorities identified the alleged aide of Hapilon as Abu Talha. The dead bodies of the of the terrorists were brought to the Police Scene of the Crime Operatives for autopsy and examination," Brawner said.

The Indonesian has been brought to Camp Crame, the national headquarters of the Philippine National Police located along the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue in Quezon City.

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