Lanao militants aided by politicians, religious allies, drug traders – watchdog

‘Money from ISIS has run dry. Most of its members are on the run or living in refugee camps in Syria. The ISIS in Lanao del Sur have to find innovative ways to survive,’ says Drieza Lininding, a civil society leader of the Moro Consensus Group

CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines – A small and discreet web of religious figures, corrupt politicians, and drug traffickers is keeping alive what remains of the ISIS-inspired Dawlah Islamiya-Maute Group. The warning comes from a civil society group tracking Marawi’s troubled reconstruction, and its claim suggests that even after years of military campaigns, the war is far from over.

On Saturday, August 9, a joint team of Army soldiers and the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group engaged the group in a gun battle that lasted more than six hours in Barangay Lamin, Lumbayanague town.

The gunfire rattled and stirred a memory residents have tried to bury – that the militants, though now few in numbers, still carry the capacity for the kind of ruin they unleashed when they overran Marawi City in 2017.

Drieza Lininding, leader of the civil society group Moro Consensus Group, said the militants are being supported by sympathetic religious leaders, corrupt politicians, and drug traders.

“Money from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has run dry. Most of its members are on the run or living in refugee camps in Syria. The ISIS in Lanao del Sur have to find innovative ways to survive,” Lininding said.

He said the group engages in marijuana and illegal drug sales, gunrunning, and serving as “hired guns” for local politicians. The militants also draw inspiration from a small number of ulama who promote ISIS-inspired teachings that appeal to Maranao youth.

The police in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) said the operation began around 1 am, when troops moved in to serve arrest warrants against five key leaders of the group. They came under fire from militants hiding in a cluster of houses, sparking a firefight that ended around 7 am.

Brigadier General Billy de la Rosa, commander of the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade, said the team killed three suspected Dawlah Islamiya-Maute members and captured three others, including a woman.

Police identified those killed as Mohammad Nasif Pangandama, also known as Anwar Rahman; Abdullah Midtuon; and a woman named Rahma. Arrested were Fahad Sarip Maruhom, also known as Abu Zacaria; Norhan Kamid, also known as Al Wala; and Asnawi Abdullah. 

The suspects had outstanding warrants for murder and homicide issued by the Regional Trial Court in Marawi City in October 2023. The murder charges carried no recommended bail.

De la Rosa said one of the six militants in Saturday’s clash was among those who figured in the 2017 Marawi siege. The others were newer recruits, some of whom had previously clashed with security forces.

He said the militants had been hiding in Lumbayanague, adjacent to Butig, birthplace of the Maute group that seized Marawi in 2017.

“So they thought they were safe there but actually there is no place in Lanao del Sur [for them] because we will run after them,” de la Rosa said.

One soldier was wounded in the clash and was reported in stable condition.

Security forces seized M16, M14, and M4A1 rifles, a homemade M79 grenade launcher, a rocket-propelled grenade, several hand grenades, and two black flags with ISIS markings from the scene.

The incident came months after troops killed group leader Nasser Daud during a 15-minute clash in Barangay Tambo, Bacolod-Kalawi town, on May 9, 2025. – with reports from Ferdinandh Cabrera/Rappler.com