[ALMASDARNEWS] Besieged ISIS According to Lieutenant General Jo-Ar Herrera, six turbans of the ISIS-linked Maute and Abu Sayyaf
...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder...
groups were killed during counter-insurgency efforts on Sunday alone. He added that an estimated 60 Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
fighters were still fighting, down from 500 when the battle initially began two months ago.
"We are gaining more ground. The rebel-held area is getting smaller. We are committed and focused to finish the job as soon as possible," Herrera said.
On the other hand, Amaq Agency claimed 10 Philippine troops were killed on Tuesday alone, thus signifying the remaining jihadist rebels to be ready to fight to the last man.
With the battle soon entering its third month, some 511 firearms have been seized by government troops since the battle began while 1,723 residents have been rescued from ISIS-held residential areas according to a military source.