After the government forces eliminated the leader or “emir” of all Islamic State (IS) forces in the Philippines in the Marawi siege last year, the Philippine army on March 5 identified the new successor.
“The one who is standing as their emir or leader now, the one who replaced him is Abu Dar,” Major Ronald Suscano, spokesperson of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division said.
Suscano was referring to Isnilon Hapilon, who was killed on October 16 last year, as the soldiers were in the middle of their operations in the war-torn city of Marawi. Hapilon’s death, together with Maute group co-founder Omar Maute’s death marked the nearing end of the five-month siege.
According to Suscano, Abu Dar is a “full-blooded” Maranao, and a native of Pagayawan, Lanao del Sur. He added that the new emir was one of the 300 fighters that escaped before the government forces were able to reclaim Marawi.
Suscano said that these remaining fighters are regrouping and recruiting to plan other similar attacks.
(Read: Army: 300 Maute fighters escaped, regrouped before Marawi siege end)
Furthermore, he said that he and his group escaped out of Marawi with “a large amount of money” which serves as their funds.
In a comparison of the two emirs, Suscano said Hapilon was more “radical” as he was more experienced and was older. But he emphasized that Dar has a lot of foreign terrorist connections.
“I am just not sure how old Hapilon was… Abu Dar, among the sub-leaders still alive, stands as the one who is more advanced and knows all the connections, which is why he replaced Hapilon as the emir or the leader,” he explained.
“There are foreign terrorists left [in Mindanao]. He is with them now. We just cannot say how many or disclose the identities of these foreign terrorists left,” Suscano added.