Philippine Army: New Radical Group Recruiting İn South

The Philippines' military revealed Sunday that the seven people killed alongside an Indonesian bomb-maker in a clash with marines last week belong to a new radical group in the Muslim south.



The spokesperson of the 6th Infantry Division and Joint Task Force Central said the "Ansarul Khilafa Philippines" has been recruiting students in the central part of Mindanao island.



"We learned of their ongoing recruitment after the encounter," GMA News "ed Capt. Joan Petinglay as saying.



She added that alongside Daesh flags, several student IDs had been found in the encampment where Thursday's clash broke out in Sultan Kudarat province.



"From here, we will formulate plans together with the local government units and the community as well as parents here [central Mindanao]," she said. "Then we will be able to stop the recruitment."



The name that stuck out most among the IDs was that of Datu Mongkang "Mongs" Dilangalen, the 22-year-old nephew of former Maguindanao House Representative Didagen "Digs" Dilangalen whose family identified the youth's body as among the dead.



His cousin, Bai Princess Dilangalen Piang Abdulrakman, told GMA News that Mongs had told his parents in June that he was leaving for General Santos City in South Cotabato province.



She added that he returned home in August and spoke with his mother by phone a day before the clash.



"She must accept what might happen to him," she "ed Mongs as telling his mother.



Petinglay said Sunday that authorities have yet to determine whether Ansarul Khilafa Philippines -- led by fugitive Mohammad Jaafar Sabiwang Maguid, alias Commander Tokboy -- is linked to Daesh.



Professor Rommel Banlaoi, a security analyst, told radio dzBB on Saturday that the group is connected with the Malay Archipelago Unit for the Islamic State, a regional unit believed to carry out recruitment activities for Daesh.



Among those killed in Thursday's firefight was Indonesian national Ibrahim Ali, who Philippine authorities describe as a follower of Julkifli bin Hir, a.k.a. Marwan, one of Southeast Asia's most wanted militants who was killed in a clash that left 44 Philippine police commandos dead in January.



Ali, a senior member of an Indonesian militant group believed to have many foreign members, was reportedly teaching bomb-making to fighters in Sultan Kudarat. - Zamboanga