IMPROVISED rocket components have been found among the seized war material indicating that Maute-ISIS militants are studying new ways to spread terror in Mindanao, the military said yesterday.
Brigadier General Jose Maria Cuerpo, commander of the Army 103rd Infantry Brigade said soldiers found six empty rockets made of aluminum from a house after they searched the captured Maute-ISIS camp in Barangay Ilalag, Maguing town last Wednesday.
“They are still empty of explosives and wire circuitry but we found details on how to make a rocket from a laptop we found,” Cuerpo said.
The laptop was among the 45 heavy firearms including seven 50 caliber Browning machine guns and bombs from the camp.
Aside from the war material, Cuerpo said soldiers found a makeshift workplace where improvised explosive devices are made.
The military said at least seven Maute-ISIS militants were killed in the assault in Barangay Ilalag last Tuesday but it was not certain if their new Dawlah Islamiya (DI) leader, Faharudin Hadji Satar alias Abu Bakar or Abu Zacaria were among those killed or managed to escape.
One government soldier and four others were wounded in the day-long fighting.
Major General Generoso Ponio, commander of the 1st Army Division said Zacaria was designated as the new ISIS emir of Southeast Asia after Salahuddin Hassan was killed by the military in Maguindanao in November 2021.
Hassan took over the leadership of the Dawlah Islamiyah after Abu Sayyaf leader Hatib Sawadjaan was also killed in Patikul, Sulu in August 2020.
“This is the reason why remnants of the group of Hassan came over to Maguing to support Zacaria,” Ponio said.
He said at least 60 to 70 militants were training in the camp in Barangay Ilalag when Air Force FA50 jets and A-29 Super Tucano planes bombed their positions last Tuesday.
Ponio said body parts were strewn around the camp making them conclude the planes inflicted heavy casualties on the militants.
“We think we degraded their strength by as much as 70 percent,” Ponio said.
AFP Western Mindanao chief Lt. Gen. Alfredo Rosario denied the claims by Bangsamoro interim Chief Minister Ahod “Murad” Ebrahim, chair of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front that the camp the soldiers attacked in Barangay Ilalag was an MILF camp.
Rosario said the AFP is willing to go with the MILF and other agencies of the peace process to investigate the claim of Murad.
He said the Maute-ISIS camp was a community or houses one kilometer behind the MILF camp.
“Our soldiers even passed through the MILF camp before they made the frontal assault on the camp of the militants,” Rosario said.
