Mindanao Armed Conflict

SULTAN KUDARAT --- Soldiers killed a member of a local terror group and wounded two others in a brief encounter in Isulan town Thursday.

Personnel of the Army’s 2^nd Mechanized Infantry Battalion were patrolling in a secluded area in Barangay Laguilayan in Isulan,Sultan Kudarat when suspected members of the Dawlah Islamiya attacked them from different directions, sparking a gunfight.

KORONADAL CITY — Two police officers were killed in an ambush by still unidentified gunmen in the town of Polomolok, South Cotabato province on Wednesday (April 29).

Lt. Col. Lino Capellan, regional police spokesperson, said the policemen — Corporal Witzel Russ Bitantos and Patrolman Bryan Costello—didn’t survive multiple gunshot wounds and died in a hospital.

The officers, who report to the Polomolok police force, were with two other policemen when they were attacked past 2 p.m. at the village of Koronadal Proper.

All four police officers were riding motorcycles.

COTABATO CITY --- A senior Abu Sayyaf leader in Sulu surrendered Saturday and renounced his membership with the group in the presence of police and military officials.

Mawallil Saiyadi also turned in two assault rifles, one fitted with a 40 millimeter grenade launcher, as he promised to reform for good before local officials in Parang town in Sulu province.

COTABATO CITY --- The Lanao del Sur police has mobilized its forces to locate a wanted murderer whose companions wounded three policemen in a bungled attempt to peacefully arrest him Sunday in Kapatagan, Lanao del Sur.

"We are now trying to locate the suspect, Meranda Bagnas, who ran away during the encounter," Lanao del Sur's police director, Col. Madzgani Mukaram, said Monday.

Mukaram said Monday the wounded policemen, Captain Karl Vincent Centinaje, Corporal Morsed Maliga and Patrolman Abdul Khamied Unda, are now confined in a hospital.

COTABATO CITY --- The police and military are bracing for more attacks by the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu province to avenge its losses in clashes with pursuing state forces in the past four months.

Officials said Friday’s deadly attack by Abu Sayyaf bandits on soldiers patrolling in Barangay Danag in Patikul, Sulu was meant to create the impression that the group is still a force to reckon with, after many of its members perished in military offensives from between December 2019 to March this year. 

COTABATO CITY --- The Bangsamoro regional police and the Western Mindanao Command will cooperate in identifying the Abu Sayyaf bandits who killed 11 Army personnel in a clash in Patikul, Sulu Friday for them to be prosecuted in court.

Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, commander of the military’s WestMinCom, said Saturday the 11 fatalities all belonged to the 21^st Infantry Battalion, one of Army units trying to clear the island province of Sulu from Abu Sayyaf terrorists.

COTABATO CITY --- Seven followers of the extremist Imam Bongos, wanted for recent deadly bombings in central Mindanao, surrendered to the military.

Col. Jose Narciso of the Army’s 601st Brigade said Friday the seven members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, all from Sultan sa Barongis town, yielded and turned in assorted firearms following the military’s heavy anti-BIFF offensives last month in Maguindanao province.

They belong to a BIFF faction under Imam Bongos, a preacher long wanted for acts of terror.

COTABATO CITY --- A police team shot dead a murder suspect and arrested two accomplices in Lumbatan town in Lanao del Sur before dawn Monday.

Policemen, backed by members of the Army’s 55^th Infantry Battalion, were to arrest Abubacar Omar, who is incumbent barangay chairman of Bubong-a-Macadaar in Lumbatan, and his relatives, Kamal Dita and Basit Minalang, all wanted for murder.

MAGUINDANAO --- Twenty nine followers of wanted Dawlah Islamiya leader Imam Karialan returned to the fold of law Tuesday.

The 29 Dawlah Islamiya bandits yielded through the joint intercession of municipal officials in Radjah Buayan, Maguindanao, the Army’s 33^rd Infantry Battalion and the 601^st Infantry Brigade.

They turned over their firearms officials of the 33^rd IB on Monday at the unit’s command post in Radjah Buayan and, subsequently, pledged allegiance to the government on Tuesday.

COTABATO CITY ---- Eight more members of the outlawed Dawlah Islamiya, the group blamed for all deadly bombings in central Mindanao in recent years, surrendered in separate rites Friday.

Five of them, Saed Sadam Malsek, Mahir Mumna Datumanong,  Abdullahsid Zuarto, Moktar Saed Pangalao, and Usman Abu Ali, yielded to the 90^th Infantry Battalion under the Army’s 601^st Infantry Brigade.