Gazmin to tap ‘international networks’ to help determine Filipinos in ISIS

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin on Thursday said he would ask help from international networks to determine claims that Filipino Muslim youths were training under jihadist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

In a radio interview, Gazmin said he would verify with the “international network” of the Department of National Defense if there was a grain of truth in the claims by former president Fidel V. Ramos and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte that around a hundred Muslim Filipino youths flew to Iraq and Syria to train under ISIS.

“Right now we are validating, we have sent our operators to verify the reports, but so far we have not received any feedback,” Gazmin said.

He added that there were some Filipinos who travelled to the Middle East but there was no information whether they have joined the jihadist group that wreaked havoc in Iraq and Syria.

On Tuesday, Duterte, however retracted his statements, saying that the information he had was of young Filipino Muslims going to the Middle East to “try their luck.”

“We have talked to Mayor Duterte though he doesn’t want to identify his sources, of course he has to protect them,” Gazmin said.

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