COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Southerners will remember 2017 as the year violent religious extremists espousing an extreme kind of Islam that moderate Muslims detest came to fore. There are at least five groups now of violent religious extremists in southern Philippines, all using the Islamic State flag as revolutionary banner. Butig, a hinterland town in the first district of Lanao del Sur, is hometown of the Maute clan. Cayamora’s wife, Farhana, nabbed in Masiu town in Lanao del Sur, is now being prosecuted for rebellion and other criminal charges. Abu Dar and his followers are now roaming in hinterlands in Lanao del Sur’s forested Unayan Area.

Source: Philippine Star December 23, 2017 10:18 UTC