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Agence France-Presse

A Filipino doctor wanted over a foiled extremist plot targeting New York’s subway and Times Square used to treat pro-Islamic State (IS) militants in the mountains of southern Philippines, the military said on Monday.
Russell Salic, 37, had links to the Maute group, which since May had been occupying parts of the Philippines’ most important Islamic city of Marawi in a bid to establish an IS caliphate in Southeast Asia, Philippine authorities said.

“He was among those who were treating wounded members of the Maute group,” said military spokesman Colonel Edgard Arevalo.
Another military spokesman, Major-General Restituto Padilla, told reporters Salic had performed these tasks during visits to Maute training camps before the Marawi attack.
“That’s why his nom de guerre or nickname, based on our information, was ‘Doc’ or ‘Doctor’,” Padilla said.

Salic, who has been in custody in the Philippines since April, is wanted by US prosecutors after he and two others were indicted over an alleged plot to conduct bombings and shootings in Times Square, New York’s subway system and concert venues in the name of IS.
The attacks were planned for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in 2016, US prosecutors said when they announced the charges on Friday.
One alleged plotter is already in US custody while the second is in Pakistani custody.
Salic is accused of wiring US$423 to the US to help fund the plot, the American justice department said.

He and the suspect in Pakistan now face legal proceedings seeking their extradition to the United States.
The restive south of the mainly Catholic Philippines is home to a decades-old Muslim separatist insurgency and to extremist gangs that have declared allegiance to IS.
Among them is the Maute group, which has withstood a US-backed military campaign in Marawi including artillery and daily air strikes in fighting that had left 979 people dead and thousands displaced.

Salic is under investigation in Manila over his alleged involvement in the kidnapping and beheading of two sawmill workers in April 2016 in the southern rural town of Butig, which the military had blamed on the Maute group.
Four other sawmill workers were set free and told authorities they saw Salic in the Maute camp where they were detained, said senior assistant state prosecutor Peter Ong.
“The complainants said they saw him in an adjacent room full of guns. He was cleaning guns,” Ong said, quoting from the workers’ depositions.
Salic has denied the allegation and said he was in another province at the time, according to Ong, who is handling the investigation and has yet to decide whether to charge Salic in court.


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The Philippines

New York ‘plotter’ was doctor for pro-Islamic State fighters in the Philippines, Manila says

A member of the Maute militant group, which is said to be affiliated with Islamic State, inside a house in Marawi. Photo: AFP

This undated handout photo received from the Philippine military on July 10, 2017 shows militant members of the so-called Maute group, an ISIS-affiliated group, inside a house in Marawi. Militants seized Marawi, considered the Muslim capital of the largely Catholic Philippines, on May 23 in a bid to create an IS province, and over 100 remain holed up in the city despite intense military efforts to oust them. / AFP PHOTO / PHILIPPINE MILITARY / Handout / -----EDITORS NOTE --- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / PHILIPPINE MILITARY" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

This photo taken on August 14, 2017 shows Russel Salic smiling after a hearing at the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Manila. A Filipino suspect in a thwarted jihadist plot targeting New York's subway and Times Square will face legal proceedings seeking his extradition to the United States, the Philippine justice secretary said on October 8, 2017. Salic and two others have been charged with involvement in the plan to stage the attacks in the name of the Islamic State group during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in 2016. / AFP PHOTO / STRINGER

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 19: A group of tourists stand in Times Square in Manhattan on March 19, 2015 in New York City. According to data from the Commerce Department, the number of international visitors to the U.S. rose 7 percent to nearly 75 million in 2014, a new record. Many people in the tourism industry are apprehensive about the rising dollar as it could result in a slowing of tourists to America as foreign currencies lose value to the dollar. Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

Debris and smoke are seen after an OV-10 Bronco aircraft released a bomb, during an airstrike, as government troops continue their assault against insurgents from the Maute group, who have taken over parts of Marawi city, Philippines June 23, 2017. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

One of America’s ‘most wanted’ terrorists may have fled Marawi battle

Isnilon Hapilon, leader of hardline group Abu Sayyaf. Photo: AFP

A bird's eye view of destroyed houses after one month of fighting between government troops in Marawi on June 24, 2017. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law in Marawi and the entire southern region of Mindanao, unleashing an offensive to crush what he said was an attempt by the jihadist group to establish a province in the area. / AFP PHOTO / PA / TED ALJIBE

Members of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force ride on a truck in Iligan, as government forces continue their assault against insurgents from the Maute group, who have taken over large parts of Marawi City, Philippines June 24, 2017. REUTERS/Jorge Silva

Bodies of beheaded civilians found by Philippine troops in rebel-held Marawi

Philippines army soldiers ride in trucks into the fighting zone as government troops continue their assault against insurgents in Marawi City. Photo: Reuters

Philippines army soldiers ride in trucks into the fighting zone as government troops continue their assault against insurgents from the Maute group in Marawi City, Philippines June 28, 2017. REUTERS/Jorge Silva

Philippines army soldiers guard a bridge during an operation to retrieve bodies of casualties from the fighting zone in Marawi city, Philippines June 28, 2017. REUTERS/Jorge Silva

Philippine troops ride on their truck on their way to the frontline in the outskirts of Marawi on the southern island of Mindanao on June 28, 2017. Islamist militants occupying parts of a southern Philippine city used a water route to bring in ammunition and evacuate wounded fighters, helping them withstand a five-week military offensive, the army said June 27. / AFP PHOTO / TED ALJIBE

Philippine troops find US$1.6 million abandoned by militants in Marawi

Militants now cornered into a built-up sliver of the town

epa06012807 A handout photo made available by the Joint Coordinating, Monitoring, and Assistance Center (JCMAC) of the GPH-MILF Peace Corridor on 06 June 2017 shows damaged buildings in Marawi City, Mindanao Island, southern Philippines, 05 June 2017. According to media reports, at least 174 people have been killed in ongoing clashes between militants linked to the so-called Islamic State (IS or ISIS, ISIL) militant group and the Philippine Army in the southeastern city of Marawi. The clashes began on 23 May when a military operation failed to capture Isnilon Hapilon, the leader of the extremist group Abu Sayyaf who was being safeguarded by members of the Maute Group, both groups pledged alliance to IS. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law for the island of Mindanao on the same day that the conflict emerged. EPA/GPH-MILF PEACE CORRIDOR HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

A government soldier carries a box containing 52.2 million pesos ($1.06 million) cash seized from a vault in a house previously controlled by militants in the Marawi city, Philippines June 6, 2017. REUTERS/Neil Jerome Morales

Soldiers present money reportedly recovered from a gunner's post in Marawi. Photo: EPA

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