Police Hunt Elusive Terror Suspect After Marawi Operation Gone Awry

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — An extensive police and military manhunt is underway for the target of a botched anti-terror operation in Marawi City last Saturday, August 29, identified as one of the masterminds of the 2023 bombing of Catholic worshippers that killed four and injured 43 others. Two alleged coddlers of Kadapi Mimbesa Mortiaba, Mohaimen Hadji Ali Darimbang and Nesren Camar Solaiman, died instantly from bullet wounds sustained in a shootout at their hideout in Barangay Tampilong, Marawi City. Local executives and Maranao community leaders confirmed to reporters on Monday that Darimbang and Solaiman harbored Mortiaba in a house in Barangay Tampilong, where assault rifles, pistols, and components for improvised explosive devices were kept. Mortiaba is known in Lanao del Sur, one of the five provinces in the Bangsamoro region, and in Cotabato City as a mastermind behind the December 3, 2023 bombing during a mass at the Mindanao State University gymnasium in Marawi City, which killed four worshipers and wounded 43 others, including children. Officials of the Lanao del Sur Provincial Police Office and Capt. Steffie Salanguit, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (PRO-BAR), separately told reporters on Monday that police were attempting to arrest Mortiaba around midnight Saturday after villagers reported his presence. However, the operation turned awry when Mortiaba, Darimbang, and Solaiman pulled out guns and opened fire. Mortiaba reportedly detonated a fragmentation grenade to prevent police and soldiers from closing in as he fled. A six-month-old girl inside the hideout was injured in the explosion and later succumbed to multiple shrapnel wounds in a hospital. Salanguit stated that PRO-BAR units in Marawi City are now searching for Mortiaba, who is wanted for terrorism and other high-profile criminal cases. One of the more than 10 arrest warrants for him was issued on October 11, 2024, by a Regional Trial Court in Iligan City, charging him with documented acts of terror, multiple murder, and frustrated murder. Mortiaba, a remnant of the defunct Dawlah Islamiya terror group, is also wanted for extortion, large-scale trafficking of shabu and marijuana, and destructive arson. He has also been implicated in over 10 bomb attacks in various towns in Lanao del Sur, the neighboring Lanao del Norte province, and Iligan City in recent years. Army Major Gen. Jose Vladimir Cagara, commander of the Western Mindanao Command, ordered his subordinate officers in the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade, which secures Marawi City and surrounding towns, to assist the police in locating Mortiaba. PRO-BAR regional director Police Brig. Gen. Christopher Abecia expressed gratitude on Monday to officials of the Army's 103rd Infantry Brigade and local executives in Lanao del Sur for supporting their efforts to apprehend Mortiaba for prosecution.