Mindanao Armed Conflict

COTABATO CITY --- Hundreds of villagers were displaced by gunfights Sunday between two heavily-armed Moro factions in Pikit town in North Cotabato.

The hostilities involve the groups of the enemies Ricky Kusain and Butch Sanday, who has just been booted from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front last week for serious offenses.

Sanday and his followers, armed with assault rifles and grenade launchers, went on rampage early Sunday and fired at villages where Kusain and his men reside, provoking running gunfights that sent no fewer than 500 villagers running for their lives.

COTABATO CITY  --- Hundreds of conflict-stricken Teduray villagers in South Upi, Maguindanao benefited from relief operations this week of the office of Bangsamoro Parliament Member Khadafeh Mangudadatu.

The evacuees abandoned their homes due to hostilities involving two groups fighting over strategic patches of lands in their highland agricultural enclaves. 

Mangudadatu, most known as "Toy," was a former assemblyman of the now defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in the second district of Maguindanao where South Upi is located.

COTABATO CITY --  A leader of lawless Moro armed group with link to terror group Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and five of his followers were killed in an intense clashes against the military troops Friday in Lambayong town in Sultan Kudarat.

Troops of 601st Infantry (Unifier) Brigade through the 40th Infantry (Magiting) Battalion under Lt. Col. Rogelio S. Gabi launched the law enforcement operation targetting ALG commander Tugali Guiamal Galmak, a.k.a. Commander Tugal, in Purok Galmak, Barangay Baumol, Lambayong, Sultan Kudarat on June 4, 2020.

KORONADAL CITY  – Police neutralized a man in Lambayong, Sultan Kudarat who was believed to be one of the bombers in the night market in Davao City in 2016.

Lt. Colonel Lino Capellan, speaking for police in the Soccsksargen region, identified the suspect slain during anti-drug operation as Al Rashed Sungan Layao alias “Layao.”

Layao, according to Capellan, was killed when he traded shots with lawmen during police-led anti-drug operation at 3:30 p.m. Thursday in Crossing Sigbol, Barangay New Cebu, Lambayong,Sultan Kudarat

COTABATO CITY — A 10-year-old girl and her seven-year-old brother were killed after a mortar exploded in their house in Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao on Sunday, a town official said.

Killed on the spot in the 4:30 p.m. blast in Barangay Kitango was Sadim Tambak while his sister Aslamia expired in the hospital.

The victims’ mother, Noraisa was critically injured.  She and eight other injured victims were rushed to Cotabato Regional and Medical Center in Cotabato City.

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao  – Two suspected members of the ISIS-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) were slain in a clash with government forces in Maguindanao Saturday, the Army said today.

Government forces under the 33^rd Infantry Battalion conducting foot patrol were manning a quarantine checkpoint when they noticed three men acting suspiciously while on board a motorbike in Barangay Tuka, Mamasapano, Maguindanao, according to Lt. Colonel Elmer Boongaling, 33^rd IB chief.

MAGUINDANAO --- Insinuations by two enemy Moro groups in Guindulungan town that each has improvised explosive devices they can use against each other are causing panic among innocent villagers.

The two groups, one led by Babah Madaya of the Moro National Liberation Front, and the other under a certain Abdul Pagal of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, figured in a series of gunfights in interior areas in Guindulungan last week that displaced hundreds of residents.

CARMEN, North Cotabato – Cotabato Gov. Nancy Catamco today convened the warring families in Matalam, North Cotabato and successfully convinced the warring parties to a diplomatic arrangement and signed a peace pact.

The signing of peace covenant signaled the end of weeks of hostilities involving members of Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), led by Datu Dima Ambel and members of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) led by Naig Naga and his family.

COTABATO CITY --- Hundreds of families were displaced by gunfights over the weekend between feudal groups in Pikit, North Cotabato while other rival factions figured in deadly showdowns in towns nearby. 

The clashes in Barangays Balungis and Balatican in Pikit, located in the first district of North Cotabato, involved two heavily armed clans, one identified with the Moro National Liberation Front, the other led by a commander in the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. 

COTABATO CITY --- The Army’s 6^th Infantry Division honored Friday the two soldiers killed by Dawlah Islamiya bandits while performing anti-coronavirus frontline duties in Datu Hoffer town in Maguindanao.

The honor rites preceded the transport of the cadavers of Corporals Jermie Ombiang and Vicente Gata of the 57^th Infantry Battalion to their respective hometowns in central Mindanao.

Col. Steve Crespillo of the 6^th ID led the event, held at Camp Siongco in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao.