Mindanao Armed Conflict

COTABATO CITY --- A police team killed Wednesday in a brief shootout in Shariff Aguak town in Maguindanao four Dawlah Islamiya members out on a bombing mission.

Personnel of the Maguindanao provincial police were forced to neutralize the four bandits riding together a Suzuki pick-up type multicab when they refused to have their vehicle inspected for firearms and explosives while in Barangay Timbangan in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao.

KIDAPAWAN CITY  – Police arrested early today a suspected member of communist New Peoples’ Army and seized from him two firearms and a home-made explosives during law enforcement operations in Magpet, North Cotabato.

Police Major Judge Barotas, chief of Magpet municipal police office, said the police, backed by soldiers from the 72^nd Infantry Battalion swooped down into the house of Ronilo Ansabo and his wife Leleth, both residents of Sitio Tagaytay, Barangay Mahongkog, Magpet.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY – An alleged member of an Islamic State-inspired local terrorist group was killed while three others managed to escape in an encounter with police operatives in Polomolok town, South Cotabato province on Tuesday evening.

Capt. Randy Apostol, deputy chief of the Polomolok municipal police station, said Wednesday the still-unidentified suspect was slain during a shootout with patrolling police officers in Barangay Pagalungan past 10 p.m.

COTABATO CITY --- Top military officials have urged the National Bureau of Investigation to look into the alleged shootout Monday in Jolo, Sulu between policemen and four Army plainclothes agents who all perished in the incident.

Army Major Marvin Indammog, commanding officer of the Intelligence Service Unit-9, and his companions, Captain Irwin Managuelod, Sgt. Eric Velasco, Corporal Abdal Asula, all got killed in the alleged encounter in a busy spot in Jolo, capital town of Sulu province in the Bangsamoro region.

MANILA – The suspected Abu Sayyaf members slain in police operations in Paranaque City Friday dawn were part of the group that plotted and implemented the Jolo Cathedral Bombing on January 2019.

Police Major General Debold Sinas, regional director of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), said the suspects were actually planning to carry out bombings in Metro Manila but failed to push the plot due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Sinas identified them as:

> Merhama Abdul Sawari, alias “Mheng,” female, 40-45 years old

COTABATO CITY – Officials of Datu Paglas, Maguindanao turned over on Monday some 120 assorted loose firearms to the Army during simple ceremonies held at their town hall.

Datu Paglas Mayor Abubakar Paglas led the activity together with Maj. Gen Diosdado Carreon, Army’s 6th Infantry Division commander, and other top local military field commanders accepting the surrendered firearms coming from various barangays of the municipality.

COTABATO CITY --- The police arrested in Maguindanao province Sunday a senior member of the Dawlah Islamiya implicated in two deadly bombings in 2018 in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat.

Momong Esmael was cornered by combined personnel of the regional police offices in Region 12 and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region along a stretch of the Cotabato-Isulan Highway in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao.

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao - A military general who was designated as brigade commander in mainland Mindanao on Saturday vowed to protect the people and comprehensively work for peace.

“We are your soldiers, we are your protector, we are your partners in peace,” said Brig. Gen. Roy M Galido, newly installed commander of the 601st Infantry Brigade based in Camp Leono, Barangay Kalandagan, Tacurong City, about three hours travel from here.

COTABATO CITY – Three more municipal mayors of Maguindanao on Thursday expressed full support for the proposed anti-terrorism bill, saying this would address conflict in their communities.

Acting Mayor Bai Zandria Ampatuan of Shariff Saydona Mustapha municipality said she believes the bill, once enacted into law, would put an end to armed conflict not only in her town but in other communities in Maguindanao as well.

COTABATO CITY - Two policemen were killed while two othrs were wounded when suspected members of Abu Sayyaf Group launched a daring attack on the police station in Parang, Sulu on Saturday night, an official of the Bangsamoro region said.

Lawyer Naguib Sinarimbo, Interior minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) confirmed the incident.

Killed are identified as Patrolman Arjun Putalan and Corporal Mudar Salamat. They expired upon arrival at the hospital.