THE military on Wednesday retracted its claim that terrorist leader Omar Maute was dead, after religious leaders said they saw him Sunday.
On Sunday, Omar’s brother, Abdullah Maute offered to release a Catholic priest that they have held hostage in exchange for the release of their parents, in a meeting that the military said was not sanctioned.
“If we go by what the religious emissaries said, they talked to Abdullah and Omar,” Armed Forces spokesperson Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said in Filipino during a news briefing at the Palace.
Earlier, Armed Forces of the Philippines chief General Eduardo Año told reporters that Omar may have been killed in an encounter with soldiers.
Joint Task Force Marawi spokesman Lt. Col. Jo-Ar Herrera also said there was a “strong indication” that Omar was killed during military operations two weeks ago, since he could no longer be heard giving orders to their followers.
But an intelligence source who spoke on condition of anonymity told Manila Standard they were still checking the veracity of the information and said Omar and Abdullah might have already escaped Marawi.
The sources added that what was confirmed was that a younger Maute brother, Madi, had been killed.
Padilla said that while the emissaries were simply there to negotiate the rescue of trapped civilians, the talks were not sanctioned by the government.
“If that was their aim and if that was the topic by which they were discussing with the enemy, that’s well and fine because every life saved from inside Marawi, particularly of civilians or innocent civilians who are still trapped there, is relevant. But anything other than that… is not sanctioned,” he said.
