Duterte: ISIS has connected with Maute Group

The international terrorist organization ISIS has connected with the local armed organization Maute Group, President Rodrigo Duterte said on Monday.

"We are not good today because finally—finally—the intelligence community advised me that ISIS has connected with the group in the Philippines called the Maute," Duterte said in a speech in Malacañang.

"There's a raging war now in Lanao," he added.

Maute is an armed group inspired by the extremist ISIS,  or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria known for attacks on Western targets and atrocities against civilians.

The local armed group is composed of former Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas and some foreign fighters led by Abdullah Maute, the alleged founder of a Dawlah Islamiya, or Islamic State based in Lanao del Sur.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines over the weekend said the Maute Group has hoisted an ISIS flag at the old municipal building in Butig, Lanao Del Sur to show its allegiance to the international terror group and encourage others to join.

The AFP has since intensified its operations against the Maute Group.

The President said he will go to Marawi in Lanao del Sur after the scheduled inauguration of a rehabilitation facility for drug users in Nueva Ecija.

Over the weekend, Duterte said he was worried about the possibility of ISIS members transferring to the Philippines and other parts of Asia, including Malaysia and Indonesia.

"We try to avoid the contamination of ISIS. What we are afraid of is if the ISIS are pushed out and they lose a landmass, kailangan ka magluto, makiligo, they will try to come to Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, because they have declared the caliphate, the kingdom of the caliphate dito," Duterte said.

Authorities suspect that members of the Maute Group were responsible for the deadly night market bombing in Davao City last September.

On Monday, PNP chief Dir. Gen. Ronald dela Rosa also tagged the group for an improvised explosive device found near the US Embassy in Manila.

The IED found near the embassy is said to be similar to the one used in the Davao night market bombing.

Dela Rosa said this could be a diversionary tactic  because the group was losing members in the ongoing clashes in Lanao.

According to the Armed Forces of the Philippines, 19 members of the Maute group have been killed in three-day operations, with numbers expected to rise at the end of the day. —NB, GMA News