By Theodore Shoebat
ISIS terrorists in the Philippines are now trying to invade the country, cooperating and working with local Muslim militias. Just recently Muslims who pledged allegiance to ISIS took two Christians, Salvador Hanobas and Jemark Hanobas, and beheaded them. Though their religion has not been specified, the fact that one of their names is Salvador cancels out the prospect of them being Muslim, and considering the fact that the Philippines is almost 100% Catholic, I believe it is safe to say that these martyrs were Catholics. This gruesome murder took place near the same time of a 10 hour shootout between Filipino forces and Muslim terrorists, in which 24 Islamists were killed. According to the report on the murder:
Philippine kidnappers that want to ally with the Islamic State (ISIS) groups have beheaded two local hostages, police said Wednesday, April 13.
Police on the southern island of Mindanao recovered the decapitated corpses of the two men on Tuesday, 9 days after they were taken, said the police chief of Lanao del Sur province.
“Salvador Hanobas and Jemark Hanobas were beheaded by their abductors,” Senior Superintendent Rustom Duran told reporters by telephone. “Locals brought the heads and the torsos to the mayor’s office.”
It was unclear if the two victims were related.
Duran said the kidnappers belonged to an Islamic group that battled government forces for a week in February, leaving 3 soldiers dead and forcing 20,000 people to flee their homes.
Police found black flags identical to those flown by ISIS in Iraq and Syria in the fighters’ hideout in the remote Mindanao town of Butig.
Duran said the group had also abducted 6 workers at a local sawmill on April 4, accusing them of being military informers. Four were freed unharmed on Monday.
And as we read in one report on the gun battle:
THE military yesterday shelled Abu Sayyaf positions in Tipo-Tipo town in Basilan as troops continued pursuit operations for the group that killed 18 soldiers and wounded 53 others in a fierce gun battle last Saturday.
“Suppressive fires” were delivered by the military to prevent possible resistance by the enemy, said Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla, Armed Forces spokesman.
“Our (pursuit) operations are ongoing, though there is no significant engagement that occurred today. What our troops delivered were artillery fires to known positions of the ASG,” said Padilla.
Padilla said the artillery fire, mostly from howitzers, was delivered based on intelligence information gathered by the military as to the whereabouts of the Abu Sayyaf.
Padilla said the military also conducted ground and aerial bombardment on other Abu Sayyaf positions last Monday. Padilla said there were no aerial operations conducted yesterday.
Government forces clashed for about 10 hours with about 120 Abu Sayyaf men in Barangay Baguindan in Tipo-Tipo last Saturday, leaving 18 soldiers, and wounding of 53 other troops from the 44th Infantry Battalion.
The military initially reported that five terrorists died in the fighting, including Moroccan Mohammad Khattab. On Monday, it said the Abu Sayyaf fatalities in the firefight increased to nine.
Officials said six Abu Sayyaf were also wounded, including Abu Sayyaf leader Furuji Indama, the No. 2 man of the bandit group.
At noon yesterday in Villamor Air Base after the blessing of C-130 plane acquired from US government, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Padilla announced that the number of fatalities from the side of the Abu Sayyaf has risen to 25, including Indama.
Two hours later, Padilla apologized and said Indama was “critically wounded” and not killed. He said he received erroneous reports that said Indama is dead.
Padilla said the number of enemy fatalities is 24 or 11 more than the accumulated number of Abu Sayyaf men killed in the fighting last Saturday and Sunday.
Padilla said the additional Abu Sayyaf fatalities were earlier counted as wounded who might have died due to loss of blood.
Of the 24, only two bodies have been recovered, including that of Khattab. He said the death of the rest were validated by various sources.