Suspected pro-IS Sniper Captured, Philippine Authorities Say

A suspected pro-Islamic State (IS) sniper who was among at least 150 militants who escaped when troops ended the siege of the southern Philippine city of Marawi has been arrested in the capital Manila, police said Tuesday.

Police announced the capture of Unday Macadato, an alleged sniper of the Maute terror group, as a military official said at least 21 pro-IS militants have surrendered since the military recaptured Marawi in October last year after five months of ferocious gun battles.

“He is alleged to be a sniper in the Marawi siege,” Metropolitan Manila police chief Camilo Cascolan said, referring to Macadato.

Cascolan said the suspect, who was in the government’s list of terrorists, was arrested Monday after police received a complaint from a civilian about a “person displaying an unknown caliber of firearm and threatening bystanders and his neighbors.”

Police promptly went to the site, arrested Macadato and discovered that he was a member of the Maute group. Authorities filed charges against Macadato after he was caught in possession of a .45-caliber handgun and a grenade, Cascolan said.

On Feb. 27 this year, the United States declared the Maute group as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, allowing Washington to block any assets that the militants may have in American jurisdictions and preventing U.S. citizens from making financial transactions with them.

Twenty-one suspected militants, mostly “hardliners” who belonged to a faction loyal to the Maute group, have surrendered since January, Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, deputy chief of the military in Marawi, told reporters Tuesday.

The suspects had managed to escape from Marawi weeks after the siege was declared over with the deaths of their leaders Isnilon Hapilon and Omarkhayam Maute, who were killed in a hail of gunfire in October, Brawner said.

The group was said to have escaped along with Humam Abdul Najib, alias Abu Dar, believed to be a cousin of Omarkhayam. Najib is still at large.

“The good development is that many have surrendered. They were hardliners in-charge of the recruitment,” Brawner said, adding that there were still at least 150 fighters and sympathizers hiding in the southern region.

“They are currently doing trainings in remote areas. They want to remain in the province of Lanao because it’s their comfort zone,” he said, referring to the mountainous area near Marawi

Hapilon led his group in taking over Marawi, displacing its 200,000 residents in violence never before seen in recent Philippine history.

Aided by the Maute gang, and fighters from Southeast Asia and the Middle East, Hapilon sought to make Marawi the Islamic seat of power in the predominantly Catholic Philippines, which has grappled with militancy for years.

But Philippine forces, backed by intelligence help from longtime allies the United States and Australia, pushed back the militants and engaged them in vicious street-by-street battles. At least 1,200 people died in the fighting, mostly militants.

The entire southern island of Mindanao remains under military rule until December this year, with President Rodrigo Duterte saying that scores of fighters had escaped and remain a threat in the region.

Felipe Villamor in Manila and Richel V. Umel in Marawi City, Philippines, contributed to this story.