MANILA, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Philippine police have arrested a suspected terrorist who allegedly took part in attacking the southern Philippine Marawi City in May last year, authorities said on Monday.
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa said Abdul Nasser Lomondot was arrested around 5 p.m. on Saturday in Manila City. He said a pistol and a hand grenade were confiscated from the suspect.
The military tagged Lomondot as "a Maute Group sub-leader who took part in the Marawi rebellion." Lomondot is "one of the key planners" in the attack of Marantao, a town in Lanao del Sur province, the military said.
"He participated in the killing of innocent Christian civilians and committed violence against female and child hostages," the military said, adding that Lomondot trained in Butig town in Lanao del Sur "along with other Daesh members."
Since the death of Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon, whom the military tagged as the "established Amir of Maute-Daesh in the Southeast Asian region", the military said the remnants of the terrorist groups scattered into small groups and went into hiding in different parts of the Lanao del Sur.
"They were also monitored recruiting and conducting training particularly in the boundaries of Lanao and Maguindanao areas where they enjoy a certain civilian support," the military said.
Army Major General Roseller Murillo said the recent arrest helped the military harvest "valuable information that allows authorities to further hunt down the remnants of the group."
"More so, these successes clearly indicate their dwindling organizational leadership and capabilities," Murillo said.
Appropriate charges are being prepared to be filed against Lomondot who is now detained in a police jail in Manila City.
Lomondot's arrest came a few days after the arrest on Feb. 25 of the widow of a slain Malaysian terrorist leader Zulkipli Bin Hir alias Marwan in a raid in the southern Philippine province of Lanao del Norte.
Philippine authorities have also arrested Egyptian man Fehmi Lassoued suspected of being a member of the Islamic States (IS) extremist group. He was arrested on Feb. 19 with a Filipino woman over the weekend inside his rented room at an apartment in Malate, Manila.
Mindanao is under martial rule since May last year when a group of IS-linked extremists, led by Maute and Abu Sayyaf groups, attacked Marawi City, triggering a five-month war that ruined the city and claimed the lives of more 1,200 people.
Many of the pro-Islamic State (IS) militants who carried out the attack were killed. But a number apparently managed to escape when government security forces have retaken the city in October last year.
Some of them came to the capital of Manila, according to PNP chief Dela Rosa, who admitted on Monday that a ranking Maute group member has indeed slipped into Metro Manila to hide.
He also admitted that it's impossible to cordon off Mindanao and monitor the terrorists.
