IS Southeast Asia emir 'dead'!

Daesh's Southeast Asia leader died in February this year, a terrorism monitor has told me, citing a recent announcement by a media house for the terror group in the region, which apparently stood in contrast with the Philippine military’s March 2022 announcement that the terrorist was the group’s leader and was the subject of a manhunt then.??

The Philippine military on March 2, 2022, announced that Jer Mimbantas, also known as Faharudin Hadji Satar and Abu Zacharia, was the leader of Daesh in Southeast Asia.

However, East Asian Knight (EAK), the Daesh media outlet, announced on Dec 5 that Abu Zacharia died on Feb 6, 2022, according to the US-based TRAC - Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium , which detected the announcement on EAK'S social media channel.

“The video release was from East Asian Knight as an eulogy for Abu Zacharia, the "Caravan of Shuhada”, which is a take on the Caravan of Martyrs series,” TRAC president and CEO Veryan Khan told me.??

“I honestly was shocked because I haven’t seen the army officially confirming his death.

“Most of the video is a photo and video montage of Abu Zacharia in various battlefield operations as well as an image of his supporters touching the face of Abu Zacharia’s dead body.”??

Khan said some of the footage is recycled from the 2017 Marawi siege.?

“The beginning of the video starts with CGI of a human walking through battle, you can see this nondescript human to the left side of the poster. This is a design choice I haven’t seen before in any EAK nor other unofficial or official videos.”

The Philippine military in their March announcement said they had identified Abu Zacharia as the Islamic State extremist group’s new emir for Southeast Asia, who was also the leader of the Maute Group, in an offensive underway then in the southern Philippines.

Abu Zacharia was believed to have survived a military operation in Lanao del Sur province that was launched on March 1 and involved airstrikes and ground troops.

Lanao del Sur was where hundreds of pro-IS militants laid siege to Marawi, the provincial capital, for five months in 2017.

“We have information that Abu Zacaria was designated as (IS) emir for Southeast Asia,” Brig. Gen. Jose Maria Cuerpo II told reporters on March 2 of this year. Cuerpo was the commanding officer of 103rd Infantry Brigade, which led the assault.

The offensive overran Zacharia’s base in a hinterland village in Maguing town, the military then said.

In that offensive, the military launched pre-dawn airstrikes while sending ground troops to attack positions of Zacharia and his men. The military has been pursuing Zacharia’s group since January, Cuerpo said further on March 2, adding that a recent intelligence report warned that his group might be preparing for a new round of hostilities.

“We have evidence, that is why we launched the offensive,” Cuerpo then said.

Abu Zacharia succeeded Owaida Marohombsar (also known as Abu Dar), the leader of the Daulah Islamiyah-Maute Group who was killed in Lanao del Norte, a neighboring province, sometime in March 2019. Daulah Islamiyah, which means Islamic State in Arabic, is the umbrella name given to local terror groups aligned with Deash.?

Cuerpo on March 2 said further that Abu Zacharia was part of the Maute group that seized Marawi in 2017 and engaged government forces in a five-month battle, during which as many as 1,200 people died and much of the city was destroyed.

He escaped as troops retook Marawi while the regional leader of IS, Isnilon Hapilon, was killed in the fighting there. Hapilon was succeeded by Abu Dar.

Khan further told me that she found it interesting EAK said Abu Zacharia died on Feb 6, 2022, before the date (March 2, 2022) that the military declared Abu Zacharia as the new emir or leader.

“This begs the question, why release the video now? It is my personal opinion that ISEA (Islamic State East Asia) is getting ready to announce a new emir.”?

Daesh on Nov 30 announced that their global leader, Abu al-Hassan al-Hashemi al-Quraishi, was killed in fighting in Syria.

Daesh spokesman Abu Umar al-Muhajir announced the death of Abu al-Hassan in a short audio statement and that the group has selected Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Quraishi as its new leader.

Scores of bayah or pledges of allegiance came from various Daesh branches or so-called provinces, and according to Khan, including Souttheast Asia, often called East Asia.

Khan said it is worth noting that EAK pledged to the new caliph in a poster without releasing a video or official photoset, at least not as of yet.??

“It will be interesting to see if Islamic State Central Command will release an official photo report and see what the current numbers are for Maute, ASG and BIFF,” said Khan, using acronyms for the Abu Sayyaf Group and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

“If IS Central follows the same pattern as the other franchise bayah photo reports, then each Maute, ASG and BIFF will be seen either in separate photo reports (like ISWA and ISGS did) or in one photo report with each unit clearly defined as in separate locations (like ISK did).

ISWA refers to the Islamic State in West Africa, ISGS Islamic State in the Greater Sahara while ISK is the acronym for Islamic State in Khorasan.

I have reached out to the Philippine military for comment and am awaiting their response on the death announcement of Abu Zacharia, whose background, radicalisation and rise to the ISEA top spot are detailed in my in-depth English and Arabic special reports for The Diplomat and Al Aan TV respectively.

The Arabic version of this article on the Al Aan news site can be read here .