Mindanao Armed Conflict

COTABATO CITY --- State operatives killed four  Abu Sayyaf members, two of them wanted kidnappers, in a shootout in Jolo town in Sulu before dawn Sunday.

The fatalities, Injam Yadah and three others, two of them identified as Al-Al Sawadjaan and a certain Rauf, died on the spot from multiple gunshot wounds.

Investigators from the Sulu provincial police are still trying to identify the fourth fatality.

NORTH COTABATO - The police and military are certain the Al-Khobar terror group was responsible for last week’s burning of a bus in Mlang town that caused the death of three passengers and hurt six others.

Police Col. Henry Villar, North Cotabato provincial police director, said Monday they are now validating persistent reports from residents of Mlang and in nearby towns purporting that the Al-Khobar was responsible for the arson attack.

NORTH COTABATO --- Tension remained high in Mlang municipality, where arsonists set a bus on fire Thursday, burning three passengers alive and causing six others third degree burns. 

Mlang Mayor Russel Abonado, chairperson of the municipal peace and order council, on Friday offered a P100,000 incentive in exchange for any information that would lead to the arrest of the culprits.

“I condemn the incident. We want a full closure on this,” Abonado said.

ZAMBONGA CITY - Combined elements of the military and police conducted a joint law enforcement operation in Barangay Paigoay, Tubaran at 1:20 a.m., May 29.

COTABATO CITY --- The police arrested Friday one of the 10 most wanted law offenders in Maguindanao province who has a P1.3 million bounty on his head.

Duma Anayatin, facing multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder cases in a regional court, is now in the custody of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.

Anayatin yielded peacefully when members of the CIDG-BAR led by Police Major Esmael Madin arrived in his lair in Barangay Damabalas in Datu Piang, Maguindanao and served him a warrant for his arrest.

MAGUINDANAO --- Soldiers shot dead two members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in an encounter in Barangay Mao in Datu Paglas town Sunday.

The slain bandits were followers of Kagui Karialan, leader of one of three factions in the BIFF, who is facing more than 30 cases in different courts for acts of terror, including deadly bombings in central Mindanao in recent years.

Sunday’s hostilities in Barangay Mao erupted when BIFF gunmen attacked soldiers patrolling in the area, dispatched to check on reports by villagers on sightings of armed men around.

MAGUINDANAO --- The military is preparing for retaliations by the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters following Wednesday’s death of five members in a clash with soldiers in Datu Paglas town.

The BIFF has a reputation for bombing non-military targets, business establishments and public conveyances to avenge losses in clashes with pursuing state security forces.

MAGUINDANAO - Five members of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters perished in a gunfight with pursuing soldiers in Datu Paglas Wednesday.

The four BIFF gunmen, initially identified only as Anding, Said, Bitol, Musib and Habib, got killed in an encounter with soldiers under the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade.

Habib was from nearby North Cotabato province, according to sources in the province.

They were among about a hundred BIFF gunmen who stormed the town proper of Datu Paglas town

MAGUINDANAO --- The military found two M16 rifles and a dozen improvised explosive devices along the escape route of the terrorists who stormed the public market in Datu Paglas town Saturday.

Brig. Gen. Roy Galido of the Army’s 601^st Brigade said Tuesday soldiers running after members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters who occupied and public market in Datu Paglas are now in custody of the two assault rifles and IEDs left along a trail in Barangay Lepak in nearby Pandag town.

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao – Two extremists belonging to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) – Karialan Faction were held by residents of a community at the outskirts barangay of Datu Paglas town of Maguindanao on May 10, 2021.