Soldiers recovered 16 pipe bombs and arrested an Islamic State-linked militant in a follow-up operation in the southern Philippines, after security forces killed three men, including two foreigners, as they allegedly tried to launch a bomb attack using suicide vests, the military said Thursday.
The man, identified only by his nickname or alias “Mang,” was captured Tuesday night in a village in remote Indanan town, said Col. Gerald Monfort, spokesman of the Joint Task Force Sulu. Earlier on the same day, three suspected would-be suicide bombers were killed as they tried to pass through a security roadblock and engaged troops in a firefight.
The slain foreigners had Middle Eastern facial features and authorities said they were working with Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan, an Abu Sayyaf commander considered by both American and Filipino intelligence officials as the Islamic State’s local chief.
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Source: Benar News