Mindanao Armed Conflict

KIDAPAWAN CITY - Two rival Moro groups squabbling for control of a barangay in Pagalungan, Maguindanao del Sur clashed again Sunday, sending villagers running for their lives.

Three were reported killed while another was wounded in the latest encounter between the clan of Datu Kente Matalam, incumbent chairman of Kilangan in Pagalungan, and their enemies led by Nayang Teman.

Both groups are identified with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

CARMEN, North Cotabato – Three suspected Dawlah Islamiya terrorists were killed and four others were injured during the military’s focus operation in the borders of Maguindanao del Sur and Cotabato province, the Army here said.

Brig. Gen. Donald Gumiran, commander of the Army’s 602nd Infantry Brigade, said government forces were running after the group of Almoben Sibud of the IS inspired terror group who has about 30 armed followers.

“Sibud is the leader of the group and believed to be behind bombings in our AOR,” Gumiran said.

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao del Norte - Three New People’s Army guerillas and a military officer were wounded in a clash in Kiamba town in nearby Sarangani over the weekend. 

Personnel of the Army’s 38^th Infantry Battalion were patrolling in Barangay Gasi in Kiamba when a group of NPAs attacked them from two directions, provoking a gunfight that lasted for about 30 minutes. 

POLOMOLOK, South Cotabato - Gunmen wounded a local government official in an ambush here on Friday morning, the local police said.

The victim, former municipal councilor Rhyolite Agregado Balili, now assistant secretary to the mayor here, was immediately rushed to a hospital by responding policemen for treatment.

Brig. Gen. Jimili Macaraeg, director of the Police Regional Office 12, said he has ordered the Polomolok municipal police force and officials of the South Cotabato Provincial Police Office to cooperate in identifying the gunmen who tried to kill Balili.

SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao Sur – A village chairperson of nearby town in Maguindanao del Sur was shot dead by two men riding tandem on motorbike on Tuesday (March 14) afternoon along the national highway here, police said.

Colonel Ruel Sermese, Maguindanao police director, identified the victim as Hadji Basit Zangkala, village chairman of Barangay Labu-Labu 2, Datu Hofer town, in Maguindanao del Sur.

SULTAN KUDARAT, Maguindanao del Norte - Two men were killed in an a daylight attack along the national highway in Crossing Simuay here on Saturday afternoon, police said.

A 5-year-old girl was injured and was brought to the hospital.

Lt. Colonel Julhamin Asdani, Sultan Kudarat municipal police station chief, identified the fatalities as Tato Mangilay Datupeno, 31, and his brother Nelson, both residents of Kalanganan 2, Cotabato City.

The girl, daughter of one of the fatalities, is now recperating in the hospital.

DATU ODIN SINSUAT, Maguindanao Norte – Military and police authorities in Maguindanao del Sur are placed on heightened alert as they brace for possible retaliation from extremists group who were killed when they traded shots with soldiers in Maguindanao del Sur.

DATU ODIN, Maguindanao Norte – Five gunmen were killed in separate government law enforcement operations in Maguindanao del Sur and North Cotabato province Saturday.

In Pikit, three gunmen were killed when they resisted arrest and traded shots with police and military personnel serving warrants of arrest, according to Major Gen. Alex Rillera, 6th Infantry Division commander.

COTABATO CITY --- Four more members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters surrendered Wednesday and promised to help convince former companions to return to the fold of law.

The BIFF operates in the fashion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and is blamed, along with allies Al-Khobar and Dawlah Islamiya, for all deadly bombings in central Mindanao since 2014.

COTABATO CITY --- The police seized P643,000 worth of shabu from two different dealers, both linked to the Dawlah Islamiya, entrapped in separate operations Tuesday in Cotabato province.

In a statement Wednesday, the office of Brig. Gen. Jimili Macaraeg, director of the Police Regional Office 12, identified the suspects as Fahad Macauyag, 44, and the 32-year-old Mojahid Silva, now locked in detention facilities.