Soldiers recall taking down Isnilon Hapilon, Omar Maute

Soldiers of the 1st Cavalry Squadron of the Philippine Army's Mechanized infantry Division on Thursday shared on Jun Veneracion's report for "24 Oras" how they neutralized two terrorist leaders.

Early Monday morning, the team stormed into the war zone aboard an armored personnel carrier (APC) with remote-controlled weaponry equipped with a .50-cal belt-fed machine gun.

The vehicle was also equipped with a thermal camera that enabled them to see targets in the dark.

At 3:30 a.m the troops had spotted a man, who turned out to be Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon.

The man was peering from inside a building with a 14-year-old girl and her five-year-old sister beside him.

The troops recalled having a hard time shooting Hapilon without injuring the young female civilians.

As soon as he got a clear shot, the soldier pulled the trigger.

"Kitang kita talaga sa monitor, sir, na dikit lang sila...May pasilip-silip doon, sir, na gustong tumawid," the soldier said.

"Sabi ng officer na nagdala sa amin, sir, iyung isang tao na iyan, huwag mong alisan ng sight. Pag may clear vision ka na para hindi matamaan 'yung kasama niya, pitikin mo na. Noong nakakita ako ng chance, sir, na puwede ko na siyang putukan, sir, pinutukan ko na, sir," he added.

It wasn't until after they shot him down that they identified the man as Hapilon, the leader of the Abu Sayyaf Group.

Soon after, the team spotted Omar Maute who was shooting at them as he crawled across the rubble.

Even though it was the Maute leader who first opened fire, the soldier said it took just one shot to put him down. 

The military killed 13 more militants during Wednesday evening's operation. The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is verifying if Malaysian terrorist Dr. Mahmoud Amad, allegedly a Maute financier, was among the bodies. — Margaret Claire Layug/BAP, GMA News