13 November
[BenarNews] Six Filipinos believed to be members of a local Islamic State
 ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
branch were killed Friday in a gunbattle with government forces in the southern Philippines, while a seventh suspected bad boy died in another raid in the region, military officials said.
Arafat Bulacon (alias Maula) a top lieutenant of Dawlah Islamiyah — the Filipino term for Islamic State (IS) — was among the six suspects slain during the raid in Polomolok, a town in South Cotabato province, authorities said.
He was among those wanted for a 2018 kaboom in General Santos city that injured eight people, they said. Earlier this month, troops killed a bad boy identified as Bulacon’s accomplice, Jazzer Nilong, in the nearby town of Esperanza.
"Two arrest warrants for murder (were) issued against the suspect at 5 in the morning," said Maj. Gen. Juvymax Uy, commander of the military’s Joint Task Force Central. "However,
if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well...
Bulacon and five other cohorts tried to evade the arrest and engaged the troops in a shootout, which resulted in their instantaneous death."
He said troops recovered an M4 rifle, two 12-gauge shotguns, two .38-caliber revolvers, an AR-15 pistol, an improvised bomb and an IS flag.
Security Forces Kill Islamic State Suspect, Foil Bomb Plot
5 November
[BenarNews] Police and soldiers killed a suspected sub-leader of Islamic State’s Philippine branch and foiled a bomb plot during a joint counter-terrorist operation in southern Sultan Kudarat province, the military said Thursday.
Combined forces from the provincial police, the army’s 7th Infantry Battalion and 43rd Special Action Company moved in to arrest the suspect, Jazzer Nilong (alias Khalid Di Nilong), at an inn in the municipality of Esperanza on Wednesday, according to the military chief in the south.
"But he sensed the presence of troops conducting surveillance, dug in and engaged the officers in a gunbattle," Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan, head of the military’s Western Mindanao Command, told BenarNews. "He was killed in the brief firefight."
Nilong’s death came a day after Philippine government forces killed seven suspected members of a pro-Islamic State (IS) bad boy group, Abu Sayyaf
...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder...
, in a high-seas shootout off the far southern Sulu Islands.
Nilong led a cell of the bad boy group Dawlah Islamiyah, which carried out a bombing in southern General Santos City that maimed eight in 2018, officials said.
Dawlah Islamiyah, which translates to Islamic State (IS), operates in the southern Philippines. Its members are known to work with forces of Evil belonging to the Ansar al-Khilafah Philippines (AKP), another bad boy group whose members are wanted for a string of attacks in the south.
After Wednesday’s gunbattle, police recovered an automatic handgun, a 60-mm unused mortar round, a rifle grenade, electric blasting caps, batteries and materials typically used by southern Philippine forces of Evil to make improvised bombs. Investigators also found documents indicating that Nilong was planning to carry out attacks in the south, Vinluan said.
The dead man’s brothers — Jeoffrey and Amen Nilong, who were identified as bomb makers — were killed in a military and police raid in the southern town of Isulan in September, he said.
SEA CLASH
On Tuesday, government forces killed seven Abu Sayyaf Group forces of Evil when a firefight broke out as they chased the suspects’ speedboat in waters off the Sulu archipelago, the military said.
The slain suspects included Mannul Sawadjaan (alias Abu Amara), believed to be the successor to his grandfather, Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan, the overall IS leader in the country who, authorities have said, may have been killed in a previous encounter with troops.
The military has not officially confirmed the death of Hatib Sawadjaan, who took the reins of IS after Isnilon Hapilon was killed at the end of a five-month siege of the southern Marawi city by pro-IS forces of Evil in 2017.
On Thursday, armed forces chief Gen. Gilbert Gapay expressed confidence that the forces of Evil would soon be defeated.
"The efficient use of our assets brings about significant gains in our fight against enemies of the state," Gapay said. "This proves that armed with high level weaponry and equipment, our skilled soldiers can render these bandidos Death Eaters defenseless."
He said that since November 2019, 65 Abu Sayyaf members had been killed while 99 others had surrendered. 
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