Government soldiers stand on guard in front of damaged buildings and houses as troops continue their assault on its 105th day of clearing operations against pro-IS militants who have seized control of large parts of Marawi City, Philippines September 4, 2017. More than 800 people have been killed in the battle, most of them insurgents, since May 23 when the militants occupied large parts of the predominantly Muslim town. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco
TEMPO.CO, Manila - Philippine authorities have arrested the widow of the leader of a militant band sympathetic to the Islamic State group and say she recruited foreign fighters to the country and spread extremist propaganda.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II presented a burqa-clad Karen Aizha Hamidon at a news conference Wednesday.
She was arrested on Oct 11 and was said to have been married to Mohammad Jaafar Maguid of the violent Islamic group Ansar Khalifa Philippines who was killed in January in a clash with police in southern Sarangani province.
The National Bureau of Investigation says Hamidon last year recruited several Indians to join radical groups in the southern Philippines. She has been allegedly inviting through social media Muslim sympathizers to join IS-linked militants who have laid siege on southern Marawi city.