bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Reuters

Dozens of foreign jihadis have fought side-by-side with Islamic State (IS) sympathisers against security forces in the southern Philippines over the past week, evidence that the restive region is fast becoming an Asian hub for the ultra-radical group.
A Philippines intelligence source said of the 400-500 marauding fighters who overran Marawi City on the island of Mindanao last Tuesday, as many as 40 had recently come from overseas, including from countries in the Middle East.
The source said they included Indonesians, Malaysians, at least one Pakistani, a Saudi, a Chechen, a Yemeni, an Indian, a Moroccan and one man with a Turkish passport.
Crisis in Marawi: fears for 2,000 trapped in Philippine city after IS-linked militants murder civilians for not reciting prayers

“IS is shrinking in Iraq and Syria, and decentralising in parts of Asia and the Middle East,” said Rohan Gunaratna, a security expert at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
“One of the areas where it is expanding is Southeast Asia and the Philippines is the centre of gravity.”
Mindanao has been roiled for decades by bandits, local insurgencies and separatist movements. But officials have long warned that the poverty, lawlessness and porous borders of Mindanao’s predominantly Muslim areas mean that it could become a base for radicals from Southeast Asia and beyond, especially as IS fighters are driven out of Iraq and Syria.
Philippine troops using ‘maximum force’ in bid to drive militants out of Marawi City on southern island
Although Islamic State and groups affiliated with the movement have claimed several attacks across Southeast Asia over the last two years, the battle in Marawi City has been the first long drawn-out confrontation with security forces.
On Tuesday – a week after the fighting began – the government said it was close to retaking the city.
Last year, Southeast Asian militants fighting for IS in Syria released a video urging their countrymen to join the cause in the southern Philippines or launch attacks at home instead of attempting to travel to Syria.

Jakarta-based terrorism expert Sidney Jones showed Reuters recent messages from a chat room on the Telegram app, a popular communication platform for IS supporters.
In one message, a user wrote that he was in the heart of Marawi City where he could see the army “run like pigs” and “their filthy blood mix with the dead bodies of their comrades”.
He asked others in the group to pass information on to the Amaq News Agency, a mouthpiece for Islamic State.
Another user replied, using an Arabic word meaning pilgrimage: “Hijrah to the Philippines. Door is opening.”
Philippine troops close to controlling besieged Marawi, but neighbouring city on lockdown to stop infiltration by militants
The clash in Marawi City began with an army raid to capture Isnilon Hapilon, a leader of Abu Sayyaf, a group notorious for piracy and for kidnapping and beheading Westerners.
Abu Sayyaf and a relatively new group called Maute, both of which have pledged allegiance to IS, have fought alongside each other in Marawi City, torching a hospital and a cathedral and kidnapping a Catholic priest.
The urban battle prompted Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte to impose martial law across the entire island of Mindanao, an area roughly the size of South Korea with a population of about 21 million.

Foreign terrorist fighters form an unusually high component of the IS fighters, and emerging IS demography in Southeast Asia
Rohan Gunaratna
Head of the Malaysian police force’s counter-terrorism division, Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay, named four Malaysians who were known to have travelled to Mindanao to join militant groups. Among them were Mahmud Ahmad, a Malaysian university lecturer who poised to take over the leadership of IS in the southern Philippines if Hapilon is killed, he said.
Security expert Gunaratna said Ahmad had played a key role in establishing IS’ platform in the region.
According to his school’s research, eight of 33 militants killed in the first four days of fighting in Marawi City were foreigners.
“This indicates that foreign terrorist fighters form an unusually high component of the IS fighters, and emerging IS demography in Southeast Asia,” Gunaratna said.
According to an intelligence brief seen by Reuters, authorities in Jakarta believe 38 Indonesians travelled to the southern Philippines to join IS-affiliated groups, with about 22 of them joining the fighting in Marawi City.
However, an Indonesian law enforcement source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the actual number of Indonesians involved in the battle could be more than 40.
Indonesia officials believe some militants might have slipped into Marawi City under the cover of an annual gathering of the Tablighi Jamaat just days before the fighting erupted. The Tablighi Jamaat is a Sunni missionary movement that is non-political and encourages Muslims to become more pure.

An Indonesian anti-terrorism squad source said authorities had beefed up surveillance at the northern end of the Kalimantan and Sulawesi regions in an effort to stop would-be fighters travelling by sea to the southern Philippines, and to prevent an influx of others fleeing the military offensive in Marawi City.
“The distance between Marawi and Indonesian territory is just five hours,” the source said. “It should not get to the point where they are entering our territory and carrying out such (militant) activities.”


Israeli strike in Beirut near government buildings and embassies kills 5

Israeli strike on Beirut kills Hezbollah media chief

Taliban seeks international aid for Afghanistan’s reconstruction

Why peace in the Middle East may be beyond Trump’s deal-making abilities

Islamic militancy

Foreign jihadis join marauding group of IS fighters as clash continues in southern Philippines

A Filipino government troop on patrol in Marawi City, southern Philippines, where fighting between Islamist militants and government forces continues. Photo: EPA

epa05998661 A Filipino government troop conducts patrol on a reclaimed former Maute stronghold in Marawi City, Mindanao Island, southern Philippines, 30 May 2017, as fighting between Islamist militants and government forces continues. According to news reports, more than a 100 people have been killed in ongoing clashes between rebels and the Philippine army in Marawi in southern Philippines, a government spokesperson said. At least four rebels from the Maute group - with links to the so-called Islamic State (IS or ISIS, ISIL) - and two soldiers were killed on 30 May, government spokesperson Ernesto Abella, said in a press conference. Since the clashes broke out a week ago, the number of casualties has climbed to 104, including 19 civilians, 65 rebels, 17 soldiers and three police officers. The clashes began on 23 May when an army offensive to capture Isnilon Hapilon, leader of the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf, also loyal to the IS, and who was sheltered by members of the Maute group in M

epa05998413 Filipino displaced villagers attend an early morning prayer as fighting between Islamist militants and government forces continues in Marawi city, Mindanao island, southern Philippines, 30 May 2017. Amid Muslims around the world celebrate the holy month of Ramadan, residents of the besieged city of Marawi are staying in many evacuation center as airstrikes and other military actions against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (IS) linked Maute rebels continues. EPA/FRANCIS R. MALASIG

A Philippine Marine runs for cover near the stronghold of Maute group in Marawi City, southern Philippines May 30, 2017. REUTERS/Erik De Castro

Government troops head to the frontline as fighting with Muslim militants in Marawi city enters its second week Tuesday, May 30, 2017, in the southern Philippines. Philippine forces pressed their offensive to drive out militants linked to the Islamic State group after days of fighting left corpses in the streets and hundreds of civilians begging for rescue from a besieged southern city of Marawi. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

News

Asia

Southeast Asia

Sources say of the 400-500 fighters who overran the town, as many as 40 had come from overseas
