Hunt for Maute Group members behind Marawi jailbreak ongoing

The Armed Forces of the Philippines has placed its forces on high alert amid the hunt for members of the ISIS-inspired Maute Group who were behind the Marawi City Jail attack to rescue their imprisoned men, Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said Sunday.

Padilla said in an interview on dzBB that photographs of the escaped Maute Group members have been distributed to government security forces.

"[Sa] ating pagtugis ngayon, itinaas na natin ang alert level sa lahat ng mga lugar. [Ang] identification ng mga taong nakatakas pati ng mga nagsagawa ng krimen na ito ng pagkuha sa kanilang mga kasamahan ay naka-distribute na ito, naka-disseminate na," Padilla said.

More or less than 50 suspected members of the Maute Group stormed the Marawi City Jail  at about 5:40 p.m. on Saturday to rescue eight of its members arrested last August 22 at a checkpoint while on board a vehicle filled with bomb-making materials.

Twenty other inmates escaped during the attack.

The armed assailants captured Jail Officer 3 Modasir Manwang and seized one M16 rifle, one M14 rifle, and one Mitsubishi vehicle.

Manwang and 20 other inmates from the city jail were released by the group in Brgy. Caloocan in Marawi City. — Joseph Tristan Roxas/LBG, GMA News