Two women Islamic State terrorists blew themselves up in twin suicide attacks on Monday in the southern Philippine town of Jolo in Sulu province. Authorities counted at least 14 people, including soldiers, killed in the attacks and 75 others injured.
Communist rebels pose the “number one threat” to the Philippines’ national security, President Rodrigo Duterte said on Monday, the Philippine Star reported on Wednesday.
The tiny Christian minority in Jolo, Philippines – a majority-Muslim area in an overwhelmingly Catholic nation – has seen renewed energy in its churches now that its faith has been “tested by fire,” Monsignor Romeo S. Saniel, vicar administrator of the Vicariate of Jolo, told Breitbart News in an interview on Tuesday.
The parents of murdered American humanitarian worker Kayla Mueller gave media interviews on Sunday and Monday in which they thanked President Donald Trump and the U.S. military for tracking down and killing Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi – the man who enslaved, raped, and killed their daughter.
Kayla Mueller was one of the four Americans whose murder by the Islamic State (ISIS) President Donald Trump described as “especially heinous” on Sunday morning when he announced the appropriately cowardly demise of the man who ordered them tortured and murdered, Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
A grenade was thrown into a mosque in the southern Philippines early Wednesday morning, killing two Muslim clerics. Four people were reportedly wounded in the blast. The mosque attack came three days after multiple bombs were detonated at a Catholic cathedral in the same region, killing 21 people.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility on Sunday for the bombing of a Catholic church in the Philippines that killed at least 20 people and wounded 111 others. Some estimates put the number of people killed in the attack as high as 27.
The Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for a van explosion early Tuesday morning at a military checkpoint in the Southern Philippines that killed 11 people, an army spokesperson confirmed.
A Filipino military unit has disputed Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s claim that one of 100 sniper rifles donated by China took out the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) “emir” in Southeast Asia.
Officials in the Philippines have confirmed the deaths of the leaders of the nation’s two Islamic State affiliates, Isnilon Hapilon of Abu Sayyaf and Omar Maute of the Maute group, in the besieged would-be “caliphate” capital of Marawi.
Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte told reporters Wednesday that, following the liberation of the Grand Mosque of Marawi, the nation’s military could now bomb mosques, madrassas, and other hiding centers to finally eliminate the Islamic State presence in the city.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte made his second visit to the Islamic State-controlled city of Marawi on Friday, greeting soldiers and vowing to establish a trust fund for the education of children whose parents serve in the military.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has rescheduled a visit to jihadist-held Marawi City, following a failed attempt to land there last week. Speaking to reporters, he predicted the city will be “OK” within “ten to fifteen days” but warned that the Islamic State will remain a threat to the Asian island nation.
The Philippine military has failed to significantly move forward in the battle to liberate Marawi, the nation’s only official “Islamic city,” from the Islamic State, as President Rodrigo Duterte marks his first year in office.
The military in the Philippines has confirmed eyewitness reports that Islamic State jihadists attempting to establish a caliphate in southern Marawi city have taken civilians hostage and forced them to fight and loot for them, and have forced female hostages into sex slavery.
The battle for the southern Philippine city of Marawi continues, and may even be widening, but military officials had one piece of good news to offer on Monday: According to other hostages, the Catholic priest kidnapped by Islamic State militants is still alive.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), currently embroiled in an operation to eradicate the Islamic State from the southern city of Marawi, have called for legislators to toughen the nation’s immigration laws so as to prevent foreign jihadists from entering the country and supporting local terrorist groups.
In a breathtaking interview with the local Philippine outlet Rappler, a former jihadist with the nation’s Maute terrorist group recalls his recruitment as a child, when Maute leaders offered his parents a shot at an Islamic education.
The battle against Islamic State forces in the southern Philippine city of Marawi has entered its fourth week, despite promises from the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte that the insurgency would be crushed before the national Independence Day holiday on June 12.
Contents: US special forces join Philippine military fighting Islamist terrorists in Marawi; History of Abu Sayyaf and Maute Group in the Philippines
A video has surfaced on social media apparently produced by the Islamic State’s Amaq News Agency depicting jihadists fighting in Marawi, southern Philippines, where foreign fighters are attempting to establish a Caliphate.
The operation to defeat an attempt to establish an Islamic State Caliphate in the Philippines suffered a major setback Tuesday as the nation’s air force conducted an airstrike that killed eleven of its own soldiers.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte accused drug traffickers Wednesday of funding the Islamic State uprising in the nation’s south, where affiliates Abu Sayyaf and the Maute group are attempting to conquer the city of Marawi.
The Islamic State has released a hostage video from the southern Philippines in which kidnapped Catholic priest Father Teresito “Chito” Suganob pleads with President Rodrigo Duterte to withdraw troops from the area, suggesting the lives of some 200 hostages are at stake, including children.
Civilians who have escaped the besieged city of Marawi in the southern Philippines say the Islamic State-affiliated jihadis fighting to establish a caliphate there are largely teenaged, with some as young as thirteen participating in the killing.
Government officials in the Philippines have confirmed that some terrorists fighting with the Maute group and Abu Sayyaf, both Islamic State affiliates, are foreigners who traveled to the country to help the jihadists establish themselves.
The battle to prevent Islamic State-affiliated jihadists from establishing a Caliphate in the southern Philippines has begun, as President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the Philippine military to overtake the city of Marawi Thursday and wipe out all elements of the Maute group.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to expand a 60-day state of emergency in southern Mindanao to the whole country should the Maute group, a terrorist organization that has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS), expand its killing spree beyond the island.
A group of heavily armed fighters from the terrorist group “Maute,” also known as the Islamic State of Lanao, attacked the city of Marawi in the southern Philippines on Tuesday.
British historian and broadcaster Tom Holland’s latest documentary, ‘ISIS: The Origins of Violence’, has angered a leading Muslim organisation. Prior to its broadcast on May 17th, Holland said the question his Channel 4 documentary sought to answer was “basically this: just
The Philippines-based Abu Sayyaf terrorist group, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), has been dramatically degraded, according to the Filipino military.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered an extended military operation against the Islamic State affiliate Abu Sayyaf and assured civilians that any violent action they take to subdue local terrorists will be forgiven in a court of law, following the arrest of a policewoman with ties to the group and the beheading of a soldier.
A radicalised white convert, who worked in Asda, planned to leave the UK and join Islamic State because Brexit caused “division” in the Muslim community, a court has heard.
In confirming the death of Jurgen Kantner, the hostage to the Islamic State affiliate Abu Sayyaf beheaded overnight Sunday, the Philippine government revealed that multiple soldiers had died to prevent his murder, but their rescue attempts failed.
One of the Islamic State’s most prominent decapitators, allegedly responsible for beheading more than 100 people, has been stabbed to death in the outskirts of northern Iraq’s city of Mosul, reports Iraqi News, citing the Arabic-language al-Sumaria News.
Senior Philippines defense officials have confirmed that Islamic State loyalists in the Asian island nation have established contact with terror group leaders in the Middle East. President Rodrigo Duterte delivered a plea to Islamic groups in the nation to reject the Islamic State and help police contain its supporters.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte repeatedly threatened to impose martial law on his nation and threatened to killed hostages taken by Islamic State affiliate Abu Sayyaf to eradicate the jihadist group.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has once again threatened to eschew international human rights norms in the context of battling the Islamic State, warning that the impending liberation of ISIS hotbeds like Mosul, Iraq and Raqqa, Syria may result in a stream of jihadists making a new home in his nation.
While the struggle to eradicate the Islamic State terrorist group focuses largely on Syria and Iraq, its affiliates outside of the Middle East have been gaining strength, largely through the generation of revenue. The Philippines affiliate, Abu Sayyaf, reportedly generated over $7 million in ransoms in the first six months of 2016.
A day after requesting U.S. troops leave the south of the country, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte hinted at interest in buying weapons from rivals China and Russia and rejected the idea of joint naval patrols in disputed areas of the South China Sea.
