Mindanao Armed Conflict

Two members of a militant extremist group tagged in a series of bombings in Central Mindanao were killed in a foiled escape in Maguindanao on Thursday.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Debold Sinas, citing reports coming from the PNP Command Center said Rasul Dubpaleg and Bhadz K. Dubpaleg, both members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), were earlier arrested by police and military team in Rajah Buayan, Maguindanao around 10 a.m.

COTABATO CITY --- Seven persons, two of them women, linked to drug rings were killed in separate incidents in the neighboring Maguindanao and North Cotabato provinces Saturday.

One of the seven fatalities was identified as Akmad Manampen, a high-value target of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Manampen had eluded an attempt by PDEA-BARMM agents to clamp him down in an anti-narcotics operation in Cotabato City early on.

DATU ANGGAL MIDTIMBANG, Maguindanao - DEAD on the spot ang apat katao matapos pagbabarilin sa Brgy. Tulunan, Datu Anggal Midtimbang, Maguindanao pasado alas tres ng hapon kanina.

Kinilala ang mga biktima na sina PFC Heredin K. Kanakan na taga Brgy. Sta Cruz, Koronadal City, Heredin Kamidon Kanakan taga Almonte Street, Cotabato City, Fatima Manampen Usman taga Muntinlupa City at isang hindi pa tukoy ang pangalan.

COTABATO CITY --- Investigators filed Friday a murder case against two drug traffickers for the November 21 murder in Sultan Mastura town of the controversial former Jolo police chief Lt. Col. Walter Annayo.

The cases against Rasul Nahang Radja and Nara Kagatan Asula were filed by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao at the office here of Maguindanao provincial prosecutor Rohaira Lao.

NORTH COTABATO --- An ambulant fruit vendor was killed while five others, among them commuters, were hurt in an explosion that hit a bus in Tulunan town at noontime Wednesday.

Col. Henry Villar, director of the North Cotabato provincial police, said investigators and ordnance experts are still sifting through the blast scene. 

Vendor Gina Paunan, 53 of Barangay Cajelo, Tulunan succumbed to shrapnel wounds while being rushed to a hospital. 

MAGUINDANAO ---- Authorities have blamed the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters as responsible for Tuesday’s roadside bombing in South Upi town that killed a motorist and hurt another.

The fatality, Alberto Delos Santos, died on the spot from multiple shrapnel wounds.

Major Gen. Juvymax Uy, commander of the Army’s 6^th Infantry Division, said Wednesday there are strong indications that the roadside bomb attack was pulled off by BIFF members who had repeatedly attacked villages in South Upi, Maguindanao early on.

Ordnance experts promptly deactivated a more powerful secondary explosive found near the scene of a roadside blast Tuesday in South Upi town that killed a motorist and hurt another.

The improvised explosive device was made of 105 Howitzer cannon round rigged with a blasting mechanism attached to a small 12-volt battery.

COTABATO CITY  – A motorcycle rider was killed and another was hurt in a roadside bombing in Maguindanao’s upland town Tuesday morning.

Mayor Reynalbert Insular of South Upi, Maguindanao, said the explosion occurred at 5:45 a.m. along the highway in Barangay Poblacion Romonggaob.

Insular, quoting a police report, said the victim was riding on a motorbike with a back-rider heading toward Cotabato City when the explosion occurred.

Police identified the victim as Alberto delos Santos of Lebak, Sultan Kudarat province.

MAGUINDANAO --- The military and police are cooperating in locating two elusive cohorts of the 12 gunmen killed in a five-hour law-enforcement operation in Sultan Kudarat town Saturday.

Municipal officials and barangay leaders identified the duo as Hajer Mama and Jason Guiabel, who escaped as their companions fell one after another while exchanging shots with personnel of the police’s elite Special Action Force and the CIDG-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.

MAGUINDANAO ---- Twelve members of a heavily-armed gang and policeman were killed in a five-hour gunfight in Sultan Kudarat town town on Saturday.

Among the fatalities in the encounter that lasted from 3:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Saturday were Pendatun Talusan, who was former chairman of Barangay Limbo, Sultan Kudarat and his 11 followers.