THREE suspected Daulah Islamiya-Maute Group combatants were killed and three others, including a woman, were captured after a firefight with a joint team of army troops and police in Lumbayanague town, Lanao del Sur, yesterday, August 9.
The clash erupted when the joint team, including the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, attempted to serve arrest warrants against five key leaders of the group in Barangay Lamin, said Brig. Gen. Billy de la Rosa, commander of the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade.
De la Rosa said soldiers and police were met with gunfire from the combatants hiding in a cluster of houses.
“The decisive outcome with no civilian casualties despite the populated area is a testament to the professionalism and discipline of all operating army and police troops,” De la Rosa said.
The three arrested combatants were identified as Farhan Desumimba, also known as Al-Wala; Fahd Sarip Marahom, also known as Zacariya; and Asnawi Abdullah.
The military did not specify which of the three was the captured woman.
The encounter came months after a separate clash on May 9, 2025, in which soldiers killed Nasser Daud, the leader of the Daulah Islamiya-Maute Group, in Barangay Tambo, Bacolod-Kalawi town, also in Lanao del Sur.
Drieza Lininding, leader of the Marawi Consensus Group, said most of the combatants are now dispersed into small groups engaged in the sale of marijuana and other drugs, gunrunning, and acting as “hired guns” for local politicians.
“Money from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has run dry. Most of its members are on the run or living in refugee camps in Syria. The ISIS in Lanao del Sur has to find innovative ways to survive,” Lininding said.
Lininding added that local combatants are also encouraged by a few ulamas who still advocate for an ISIS-style of Islamic teaching, which is attractive to some Maranao youngsters.
Of the six combatants involved in the clash last Saturday, only one was identified as a veteran of the 2017 Marawi siege, De la Rosa said.
He noted that the rest were new recruits, though some had already been involved in previous brushes with government troops.
The combatants chose to hide in Lumbayanague, which is adjacent to Butig town, the birthplace of the Maute group.
“They thought they were safe there, but actually there is no safe place in Lanao del Sur because we will run after them,” De la Rosa said.
