Wanted Dawlah bomb-maker trained by 'Marwan' arrested

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — A long-wanted member of the now-defunct Dawlah Islamiya, well-versed in the fabrication of large improvised explosive devices, was arrested by policemen and soldiers in Mamasapano, Maguindanao del Sur on Tuesday, July 21.

Local executives in different towns in Maguindanao del Sur, Moro datus and relatives of the now-detained 38-year-old Muslimin Sangila Amilil told reporters on Thursday that he is an expert maker of bombs using either ammonium nitrate or potassium chlorate as blasting charges, packed with nails and metal fragments with jagged edges.

They also corroborated assertions by police and Army officials that he was trained in assembling home-made bombs, which can be detonated from a distance using mobile phones, by the Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli Bin Hir, most known as "Marwan," who was killed in a gunfight with personnel of the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police in a brief clash in Pidsandawan area in Mamasapano on Jan. 25, 2015.

Local executives said Amilil is also wanted for his involvement in the ambush on March 28, 2026, near the Maguindanao del Sur provincial police headquarters in Shariff Aguak municipality, of policemen riding a patrol vehicle, killing five of them instantly and injuring three others.

Capt. Steffie Salanguit, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said on Thursday that Amilil was cornered and arrested on Tuesday afternoon in a secluded area in Barangay Tukanalipao in Mamasapano by personnel of different units led by Col. Michael John Mangahis, director of the Maguindanao del Sur Provincial Police Office.

Salanguit and Mangahis separately told reporters that soldiers from the Army’s 34th Infantry Battalion, led by Lt. Col. Edgardo Batinay, and intelligence agents under the 601st Infantry Brigade of the 6th Infantry Division assisted the operation in anticipation of a possible encounter between Amilil and other remnants of the Dawlah Islamiya holding out in Barangay Tukanalipao.

Policemen and soldiers first searched for Amilil in his hideout in Barangay Duguengen in Shariff Saydonaff Saydona Mustapha, Maguindanao del Sur but did not find him there. They instead arrested his 36-year-old wife, Aiza Awab Amilil, when they found three 5.56 M16 rifles, a 7.62 M14 and three homemade bombs in their house, where they first searched for him with the help of barangay officials and villagers in Barangay Duguengen.

With the support of local executives, Moro datus and officials of the Shariff Saydona Municipal Police Station, the policemen and soldiers dispatched to arrest Amilil managed to locate and arrest him, an hour later, in an isolated area in Barangay Tukanalipao, about two six kilometers away.

He is now locked in a police detention facility, awaiting prosecution in different courts for his high-profile criminal offenses.