BusinessMirror November 15, 2020

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ROTARY CLUB OF MANILA JOURNALISM AWARDS

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Sunday, November 15, 2020 Vol. 16 No. 38

EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS

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DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

2018 BANTOG MEDIA AWARDS

PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY

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IN this October 19, 2017, file photo, Philippine Navy commandos aboard a gunboat patrol Lake Lanao as smoke rises where pro-Islamic group militants are making a final stand amid a massive military offensive of Marawi City. AP/BULLIT MARQUEZ

‘OPERATION PERFECT STORM’

Govt forces gain headway in ending extremism in the South after a dramatic midsea chase in pursuit of seven terrorists ends successfully.

T

By Rene Acosta

the attack of the Jolo cathedral in January 2019 and on the twin suicide attacks, also in Jolo, in August this year. The military had reported earlier that it had killed Hajan in a series of encounters in Sulu in July this year in another major debacle for the IS and its local front, as the Joint Task Force Sulu sustains its counterterrorism operations against the IS, DI and the ASG in the province. “The death of Hajan Sawadjaan has been confirmed by multiple sources, including statements from his relatives. Hajan died after a series of intense armed clashes. The JTFS’ intelligencedriven focused-military operations left a large vacuum in the leadership of the ASG-Dawlah Islamiyah,” Gonzales, who is also the commander of the Army’s 11th Infantry Division, said.

HREE years ago, a mixture of local and foreign fighters under Isnilon Hapilon, a senior commander of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in Basilan and the “emir” of the Islamic State (IS) in Southeast Asia, mounted a pre-Ramadan offensive into the heart of Lanao del Sur, the Islamic city of Marawi, in their quest to put up a caliphate in the region. The siege was ended by the military after five months of fierce battles that left the once-bustling city in ruins.

Smarting from its defeat in the country’s Islamic capital where all of its key leaders were annihilated, including Hapilon, the badly battered international terrorist group attempted to recover lost ground by going on a recruitment binge, targeting so-called orphans of war, and accelerating the radicalization of local extremists—both of which were carried out through its local front, the Daulah Islamiyah (DI). The military has reckoned with the terrorists’ steps to rebuild their ranks and rise from the ashes of their failed, albeit destructive, foray in Marawi City, by neutralizing the radical group’s hardcore leaders and members in Sulu where the group’s activities have been centered lately. This was shown by the recent killing of Mammul Sawadjaan, the heir-apparent to the IS’s local leadership, and six others, who, like him, are also notorious

leaders of the ASG. Sawadjaan, who goes by the moniker Abu Amara, and his two cousins Dave Sawadjaan and Madzmar Sawadjaan, were killed by elite Army Scout Rangers and Special Forces in a daring midsea joint operations by the Navy and the Air Force under the Joint Task Force Sulu (JTF Sulu) headed by Maj. Gen. William Gonzales, two weeks ago near Sulare Island in Parang, Sulu. “The death of these seven ASG members, particularly Mannul and Madzmar, will significantly affect the local terrorist groups’ organizational hierarchy and operations,” Gonzales, who was credited in steering the most successful postMarawi counterterrorism operations yet, both against the IS and the ASG, told the BusinessMirror. “Mannul is well respected within the group and is reportedly

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 48.2910

“Meanwhile, Mannul’s death will surely affect the morale, trust and confidence of subleaders and members of the ISIS-inspired group. Also they will find it difficult to reorganize,” said the general, whose latest feat and that of his men had been recognized by both President Duterte and the military leadership.

The ‘project’

THE death of Mannul and the lineage of the terror-inclined Sawadjaan members were a part of the overall plan of military forces in Sulu to contain and end the reign of terror of the ASG and the DI in Western Mindanao. The goal was put forward by Gonzales and had him preoccupied since his deployment to Sulu. A part of that plan was “Operation Perfect Storm,” which Continued on A2

GONZALES: “This is the result of a project we’ve been working on since last year. We just waited really for them to start this planned kidnapping, and from there, we executed our joint operations.”

poised to take over Hajan Sawadjaan’s position due to his more daring and aggressive personality. Mannul and Madzmar are also directly involved in the planning and execution of most ASG atrocities, especially kidnap-for-ransom activities,” Gonzales said. “So their neutralization will definitely affect the group’s fund sources,” the military official said,

referring to kidnaping, the criminal activity that has turned into a “cottage industry” under the ASG in Mindanao. Hajan inherited the reins of the IS in Mindanao after the death of Hapilon and led the DI, steering its terror activities in collaboration with the group of Mudzimar “Mundi” Sawadjaan, his nephew and a notorious bomber tagged in

n JAPAN 0.4594 n UK 63.3481 n HK 6.2277 n CHINA 7.3041 n SINGAPORE 35.7923 n AUSTRALIA 34.9192 n EU 57.0220 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.8762

Source: BSP (November 13, 2020)


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