The leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in Southeast Asia was shot dead while resisting arrest, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) reported Wednesday
Western Mindanao Command Chief Lt. Gen. Roy Galido said Faharudin Hadji Benito Satar a.k.a. Abu Zacharia was killed in a 10-minute gunfight with government troops sent to arrest him in the early hours of June 14.
Members of the 103rd Infantry Brigade and the Philippine National Police (PNP) conducted the joint operation to serve a warrant of arrest against Zacharia.
Zacharia previously replaced Abu Dar as leader of the Daulah Islamiyah-Maute Group that laid siege on Marawi City in 2017.
The military said Zacharia took over the helm of ISIS Southeast Asia in late 2021.
Meanwhile, in a follow-up operation conducted in Bangon, Marawi City, at about 6:07 a.m. of the same day, government forces also killed another key leader of the Daulah Islamiyah Joharie Sandab, a.k.a Morsid,
Officials said Sandab shot his M16 rifle at government troops and also sossed a grenade at them, but it did not explode.
In Basilan province, a leader of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) was killed in a clash with police in the hinterlands of Basilan province, police said Wednesday.
Col. Carlos Madronio, Basilan police director, said Nurudin Muddalan was slain in a gunfight around 10 p.m. Tuesday in Sitio Kalang, Barangay Amaloy, Ungkaya Pukan, Basilan.
The clash broke out after Muddalan opened fire on approaching policemen who were about to serve an arrest warrant against him.
“The policemen returned fire, fatally hitting Muddalan,” Madronio said in a report.
Recovered from Muddalan were an M16 rifle, three long magazines loaded with live ammunition and a bandolier.
Muddalan was a follower of Basilan-based ASG leader Furuji Indama, who was killed in a clash with government troops in September 2020.
Since then, Muddalan served as the leader of the remaining ASG members in Basilan.
The slain ASG leader was involved in the ambush of soldiers on June 25, 2022 in Sitio Tampat, Barangay Kaili, Al-Barka, Basilan.
In 2007, Muddalan also participated in the ambush that resulted in the death of 15 soldiers, and the wounding of 13 others at the boundary of Barangays Kaili and Baguindan, in Tipo-Tipo town.
A year later, he was also involved in the attack on a Philippine Marine camp in Barangay Tipo-Tipo Proper in the same town.