[PhilStar] Two Maute gunmen were killed by Philippine troops as the military continued clearing Marawi City of stragglers from the IS-affiliated group.Col. Romeo Brawner said troops caught up with the two terrorists in a gun battle inside the main battle area late Wednesday. Two soldiers were hurt in the encounter.
Brawner identified one of the slain gunmen as Abu Talja, believed to be the right hand man of slain Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon. The militants were trying to slip out through the tunnels to escape the area when troops chanced upon them, triggering the clash.
Brawner said the two stragglers appeared to be weak and malnourished, confirming claims by captured Indonesian militant Muhammad Ilham Syahputra. Brawner said, "The Indonesian said they are already weak for lack of food so they forage during the night, hoping to get something to eat."
Village watchmen arrested Syahputra while trying to escape last Wednesday. Syahputra said there are still 39 of them hiding in the labyrinth of tunnels dug by Maute militants inside the main battle area.
“But it’s possible there are still more than a dozen hiding inside,” Brawner said.
Syahputra confessed he arrived in the Philippines last year to join the Maute group on the invitation of Hapilon. The Indonesian fighter, from Medan, said his group was involved in a 2016 suicide attack that killed eight people in Jakarta that was claimed by IS.
Sources revealed the Indonesian militants went to Mindanao through General Santos City by boat. Sources also identified two of Hapilon’s other Indonesian companions as Savithri and Urdomo Hartono.