4 soldiers killed in gunfight with policemen in Jolo
BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES • 21:00 PM Mon Jun 29, 2020
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By:
John M. Unson
These photos have been circulating in the social media.
COTABATO CITY ---- Police agents killed Monday four gunmen who refused to have their identities checked while at a busy thoroughfare in Jolo, capital of the hostile Sulu province.
An initial report reaching the headquarters of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in nearby Parang town in Maguindanao said a team trailing the vehicle of the four men neutralized them immediately when they pulled out guns when asked to have their grey Mitsubishi Montero inspected for firearms and explosives.
Brig. Gen. Manuel Abu, director of PRO-BAR, said intelligence agents of the Sulu provincial police are now trying to identify the slain gunmen.
He said the four suspects were first flagged down by police personnel in Barangay Busbus in Jolo and were directed to proceed to the municipal police station for verification of their identities but speed away.
A gunfight ensued in a barangay nearby between them and pursuing policemen.
Security has been tight in Jolo, seat of Sulu’s provincial government due to threats of bomb attacks by the Abu Sayyaf terror group.
Sulu is the main bastion of the Abu Sayyaf, which has a reputation for beheading foreign and local captives if ransom demands are not met.
The slain gunmen later turned out to be soldiers in civilian clothes.
A report received by the www.ndbcnews.com.ph showed that Western Mindanao chief Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana has ask for an impartial investigation and suggested the National Bureau of Investigation to do the job.
Sobejana said four soldiers were killed by police some 50 meters from the Jolo municipal police station on Marina Street, Jolo.
Maj. Gen. Corleto Vinluan, commandezr of Joint Task Force Sulu, said four soldiers in civilian clothes were all members of the intelligence unit of the 11th Infantry Division.
They were on board a Montero SUV when flagged down by police at a checkpoint along Marina Street, Jolo town at 2:30 p.m. on Monday.
About six policemen stopped the soldiers at the checkpoint and gestured at them to proceed to the Jolo police station which the soldiers obeyed.
As the Montero proceeded to the station, one of the soldiers alighhted from the vehicle. It was then that they were fired at by the police, some in civilian clothes.
One of the slain soldiers was a native of Jolo. No one from the police was injured or killed. (With reports from Edwin O. Fernandez)