2012 – Maute brothers Omar and Abdullah form the Khalifa Islamiyah Mindanao, also known as the Black Flag Movement, with the aim of forging an independent Mindanao.
April 2015 – the Maute Group pledges allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), according to the Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium.
February 20, 2016 – Maute fighters storm the Army’s 51st Infantry Battalion in Butig, Lanao Del Sur; two soldiers and six attackers are killed in the 11-day military offensive.
November 26, 2016 – Military clashes with the Maute group in Butig, leaving 11 of its members dead, and wounding two soldiers. Residents flee.
May 23, 2017 – Government troops clash with Islamic State-linked Abu Sayyaf and Maute group in Marawi City seeking to establish a caliphate in Mindanao, with Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon as its “emir”; President Rodrigo Duterte declares martial law in Mindanao to quell the “rebellion.”.
May 24, 2017 – Maute group abducts 14 hostages, including Fr. Teresito Soganub of the Catholic Church.
May 31, 2017 – Philippine government forces regain strategic control of Mapandi and Bayabao bridges that lead to the center of Marawi.
June 1, 2017 –11 soldiers are killed and seven others are wounded in friendly fire involving an airstrike directed at Maute terrorists.
June 6, 2017 – Government forces arrest Cayamora Maute, father of the leaders of Maute group, said to funding and supporting his sons’ terroristic activities.
June 12, 2017 – The government puts up the national flag in Marawi City to counter Maute’s black flag on Independence Day.
June 25, 2017 – The government declares a unilateral ceasefire on the occasion of Eid’l Fitr.
June 28, 2017 – Following weeks of armed conflict in Marawi, President Duterte, through Administrative Order 3, establishes “Task Force Bangon Marawi” to develop and implement a comprehensive rehabilitation and recovery program based on a post-conflict assessment of Marawi City and other affected areas.
August 22 – September 24, 2017 – government forces regain control over Maute-IS-dominated buildings: the Marawi City Police Station, the Grand Mosque, and several bridges.
October 16, 2017 – Hapilon and Omar Maute are killed in a pre-dawn military operation.
October 17, 2017 – The President announces the liberation of
Marawi from terrorists.
KAROL JOSEF LUCENA, ARIC JOHN SY CUA, YSABEL ANNE DREW PADUA
(Compiled from The Manila Times articles of Dempsey Reyes, Moh Saaduddin, Fernan Marasigan, Catherine Valente, and Julmunir Jannaral.)