Mindanao Armed Conflict

MANILA -- The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is not inclined to recommend any Christmas truce with the remaining communist rebels, citing that the latter is using the season as an opportunity to regroup their forces.

MAGUINDANAO --- The municipal treasurer of Ampatuan, Maguindanao who was badly wounded in an ambush today is Roshel Kuit and not her husband, Jeric, as reported earlier by the police.

The couple, both wounded, was on a black Montero bearing license plate CAM 4811 when gunmen positioned along a stretch of the Cotabato-Isulan Highway in Barangay Bagan in Guindulungan, also in Maguindanao, shot their vehicle while passing by.

Relatives said the victims were on their way to Ampatuan from Cotabato City when they were attacked. 

MAGUINDANAO --- The Joint Task Force Central on Monday acknowledged the role of local officials and barangay leaders in the Army’s recent takeover of a dozen lairs of the Dawlah Islamiya in the province.

Major Gen. Diosdado Carreon of the Army’s 6^th Infantry Division that controls the anti-terror task force said Monday the 6^th ID is also grateful to the local government units that supported their security operations the past three weeks in Maguindanao’s Mamasapano, Shariff Saidona, Shariff Aguak and Datu Saudi towns.

MAGUINDANAO --- Soldiers seized Thursday assault rifles, an anti-tank rocket and explosives scattered in an abandoned Dawlah Islamiya lair in Barangay kuloy in Shariff Aguak town.

The cache was found by servicemen of the Army’s 33^rd Infantry Battalion in makeshift shelters of terrorists in Barangay Kuloy, where they also found a live mortar round that can be converted into a powerful IED.

COTABATO CITY --- Personnel of the Army’s 5^th Special Forces Battalion seized six more improvised explosive devices found along trails crisscrossing abandoned hideouts of the Dawlah Islamiya in Shariff Saidona Mustapha town.

The IEDs were found one after another in Barangay Pamalian in Shariff Saidona Mustapha, a hostile town in the second district of Maguindanao where the Dawlah Islamiya terror group had enclaves that are now occupied by soldiers.

ZAMBOANGA CITY - Government troops nabbed two ranking communist leaders and seized several high-powered firearms of the New People's Army following a law enforcement operation in Sultan Naga Dimaporo, Lanao del Norte at dawn of December 1, 2019.

Soldiers and policemen nabbed Christopher Cañete and Virjon Virtudazo in a combined operation in Barangay Dableston, Sultan Naga Dimaporo.

MAGUINDANAO -- Another soldier perished in an encounter Thursday with Dawlah Islamiya gunmen in the province.

Sgt. Donald Devalid of the 1^st Mechanized Infantry Battalion, a component unit of the Joint Task Force Central, or JTFC, succumbed to a bullet wound in the upper torso sustained in combat with Dawlah Islamiya terrorists who attacked them while patrolling in Barangay Kitango in Datu Saudi, Maguindanao.

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- A police officer in the Misamis Oriental town of Initao was killed in a grenade explosion that also wounded 11 others, including another police officer, inside a college campus on Thursday.

Police Master Sgt. Jason Magno, 46, a member of the Initao municipal police station, died along with Ibrahim Basher, 65, the carrier of a hand grenade that exploded in the covered court of Initao College.

MAGUINDANAO ---Authorities are certain Dawlah Islamiya terror group leader Abu Toraife will avenge the death of his son and brother soldiers killed in a gunfight Tuesday.

Toraife’s son Ansari, brother Ahmad Abdulmalik, and aide, Johari Abdulatip, also known as Kedtung, were killed when an artillery round hit their makeshift shelter while exchanging shots with soldiers at noontime Tuesday in Barangay Pusaw in Shariff Saidona Mustapha, Maguindanao.

MAGUINDANAO --- Units of the Army’s 6^th Infantry Division comprising the anti-terror Joint Task Force Central found more improvised explosive devices in the surroundings of Barangay Pusaw in Shariff Saidona Mustapha, Maguindanao Wednesday.

The IEDs were left by terrorists as they abandoned their hideouts in Barangay Pusaw after a series of gunfights with soldiers from between Monday and until late Tuesday.