MANILA, Philippines — A man who is supposedly the spokesperson of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in East Asia was killed Monday afternoon by the military in an operation in Maguindanao, state television reported.
Aside from being a spokesperson, Abu Huzaifah — identified in other reports as Abdulfatah Omar Alimuden — was also supposedly in charge of financial transactions of the Daulah Islamiyah – Philippines to ISIS central.
Reports did not provide any other details on the death of Alimuden.
According to Washington-based online news magazine The Diplomat, the so-called East Asia province of ISIS spans Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand.
This ISIS branch is led by Abu Zacharia, who is also known as Jer Mimbantas and Faharudin Hadji Satar, the chief of the ISIS-inspired Maute group that laid siege to the city of Marawi in 2017. — Xave Gregorio