[BenarNews] A military offensive has apparently wounded the leader of a Daesh affiliate in the Philippines who is linked to a newly uncovered terrorist cell in Malaysia, as well as killed four militants including a Malaysian.Isnilon Hapilon, reportedly fled from a camp in Lanao del Sur province after being wounded in a military operation on Wednesday and Thursday that consisted of ground and air strikes, Philippine military chief of staff Gen. Eduardo Ano said.
Reports said Hapilon suffered an arm injury and had to be carried by others during his escape. The news reports did not identify the Malaysian who was killed.
Terror experts have described Hapilon, a former Abu Sayyaf leader, as the head of IS Philippines, and Malaysian and Indonesian supporters of the group last year referred to him as their regional "emir" in an IS propaganda video.
His reported injury is the second blow to IS Philippines this month. On January 5, another Daesh leader based in the southern Philippines, Mohammad Jaafar Maguid, also known as Tokboy, was gunned down by security forces on a Mindanao beach. He was the founder and leader of Ansarul Khilafa Philippines (AKP), one of the three groups that make up the Philippine branch of IS.
Malaysia's police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said that security forces in the eastern state of Sabah were ready to intercept militants trying to flee. He said, "We fully support Philippines forces’ assault on the terrorist groups in the south. We will give our fullest cooperation. Our front-line troops have been put on alert for any attempt by these terrorist members to flee the south and take refuge in Sabah."
Earlier this week, Khalid announced that police had arrested a Filipino and two Bangladeshis along with a Malaysian woman. He said the four were part of a new Daesu cell that planned to use Sabah as a transit point for sending militants to the Philippines. The cell had received orders from Hapilon and a former lecturer at Malaya University, Mahmud Ahmad.