Philippines raid on ISIL nets 15 KIA's

AP:
Philippine airstrikes have killed 15 Muslim militants linked to the Islamic State group, including a suspected Indonesian militant, while one of Southeast Asia's top terror suspects was seriously wounded in the country's south, the military chief said Sunday.

Military Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Ano said the body of the suspected Indonesian militant, known by his nom de guerre Mohisen, was recovered by troops along with three dead Filipino followers of militant leader Isnilon Hapilon, who was seriously wounded in the hilly outskirts of Butig town in Lanao del Sur province.

Eleven other militants were reportedly killed, Ano said, citing intelligence, but added their bodies have not been found.

Hapilon was wounded in the arm and was losing blood after air force aircraft, including FA50 supersonic fighter jets, dropped six 500-pound (225-kilogram) bombs Wednesday night and Thursday on a militant encampment in an ongoing offensive, Ano and another air force official said. It was the first time that the FA50s, which were acquired from South Korea in late 2015 as the military's only fighter jets, were deployed in a combat mission.

Four FA50s have been delivered and the rest of 12 jets are to be delivered by July, air force officials said. President Rodrigo Duterte has criticized the FA50s as being inadequate for counterinsurgency operations and good only as fly-by aircraft for ceremonies.

Hapilon was being moved around by his men on a makeshift stretcher but could not escape from Lanao, about 830 kilometers (520 miles) south of Manila, because artillery-backed troops have blocked possible exit points, Ano said.

"We're making it very difficult for them to move around and survive," Ano told The Associated Press by telephone.
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There is much more.

This gives you another example of the breadth of the worldwide war against Islamic terrorism.  While the caliphate is under attack in Iraq and Syria, its tentacles reach far and wide.  Duterte may want to rethink his opinion about the efficacy of the FA50's.

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