Mindanao Armed Conflict

MAGUINDANAO --- Tension has waned in Datu Saudi Ampatuan town where soldiers and gunmen operating in the fashion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria figured in deadly gunfights last week.

Members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters who instigated the hostilities in Barangay Kitango in Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao have left the area after personnel of units under the Army’s 6^th Infantry Division killed 11 from them, forcing their hasty retreat.

COTABATO CITY --- More than 10,000 villagers in Maguindanao got displaced by a continuing spate of hostilities since Thursday being perpetrated by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

Reports obtained Saturday from different municipal disaster risk reduction and management councils in the second district of Maguindanao stated that as of Saturday, 12, 033 individuals, among them children and elderly people, were forced to relocate to safer areas following Thursday's attacks by BIFF terrorists in Barangay Kitango in Datu Saudi Ampatuan municipality.

COTABATO CITY --- Four more members of the New People’s Army in Sultan Kudarat province surrendered to the military Tuesday.

The four NPAs also turned in their firearms before pledging allegiance to the government during a simple rite at the headquarters of the Army’s 7^th Infantry Battalion in Isulan, capital town of Sultan Kudarat.

COTABATO CITY --- A policeman was killed while two others were wounded in an ambush in Barangay Pulonuling in Tupi, South Cotabato on Friday morning.

The fatality, Police Sgt. Reynante Espero, died on the spot while his companions, Sergeants Jorex Velasco and Jerome Silvederio, sustained gunshot wounds in different parts of their bodies.

LANAO DEL SUR --- A henchman of the two slain Maute terror group founders surrendered to the military and pledged allegiance to the government Wednesday.

The 40-year-old terrorist whom the Army’s 103^rd Infantry Brigade identified only as Dimakuta for his safety pending relocation somewhere far from reach of hardcore Maute members, also turned an AK-47 rifle to military officials who convinced him to return to the fold of law.

MAGUINDANAO – Soldiers foiled Sunday an attempt by terrorists to lay roadside bombs along arterial networks in a troubled town in this province, killing four in a gunfight that left three others wounded.

The hostilities in Barangay Pagatin in Shariff Saidona Mustapha, Maguindanao erupted when members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters opened fire on soldiers responding to reports by villagers about the presence of gunmen in the area, as if bracing for an attack.

ISABELA CITY, Basilan  – Weary of incessant fighting and loss of innocent lives, two barangays in Tabuanlasa Municipality finally concluded their decade-long clan wars, or locally known as rido, as they signed a peace covenant here at the Headquarters 4th Special Forces Battalion, Barangay Cabunbata, Isabela City on Wednesday, 24 February, where twenty assorted firearms were also yielded by local officials and barangay leaders.

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Operatives from the police and Joint Task Force-Sulu have arrested nine women with strong ties to Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) leaders and members in simultaneous joint law enforcement operations in the said province.

Maj. Gen. William Gonzales, JTF-Sulu commander, announced this only on Tuesday although the suspects were arrested Friday during intelligence-driven law enforcement operations by way of service of warrants of arrest in the towns of Jolo and Patikul.

MAGUINDANAO --- Authorities have tagged the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in Thursday’s foiled roadside bombing in Shariff Aguak town.

The improvised explosive device, rigged with a blasting contraption that can be detonated from a distance, was fashioned from an 81 millimeter mortar round and two anti-tank rockets.

“It was a `signature IED’of the BIFF. The bombing attempt occurred after seven BIFF members surrendered a week before in another municipality in Maguindanao,” Major Gen. Juvymax Uy of the Army’s 6^th Infantry Division said Sunday.

LANAO DEL SUR ---- Three Maute gunmen were killed as soldiers took over a lair of terrorists in Barangay Bawang in Madamda Sunday.

The Maute terror group operates in the fashion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

The hostilities erupted when Maute terrorists opened fire at personnel of the Army’s 1^st Scout Ranger Battalion dispatched to check an enemy encampment in Barangay Bawang, a hinterland area in Madamba, Lanao del Sur.