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COTABATO CITY (MindaNews / 24 Jan) – The police arrested an alleged widow of one of the top commanders of the Maute group during a raid here Tuesday afternoon.
Chief Insp. Allan Uy, spokesperson of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (CIDG-ARMM), said Najiya Dilangalen Karon-Maute was included in arrest order number 2 of Department of National Defense issued June 5 last year for violation of Article 134 (rebellion or insurrection) of the Revised Penal Code.
Initial investigation revealed she is the widow of one of the slain top commanders of Maute-ISIS, Mohammadkhayam Maute.
She was arrested in her house at 23 Nayon Shariff, Barangay Rosary Heights 3, past 2 p.m. Tuesday by joint forces of the Police Regional Office-ARMM, Cotabato City police, and CIDG-ARMM operatives.
Uy said the Maute widow is undergoing tactical interrogation as to her role in the terror group.
Families and lawyers of the arrested Maute visited her but kept mum.
The Maute brothers of Lanao del Sur, together with the Abu Sayyaf group and some foreign terrorists, launched the Marawi siege May 23 last year supposedly in their aim to install a regional Islamic caliphate in Asia.
The urban war lasted six months and claimed more than a thousand lives from the rebels, government troops, and civilians. The military wiped out most of those involved in the siege, including their leaders. (Ferdinandh Cabrera / MindaNews)