5 religious extremists, 2 NPAs surrender in Sultan Kudarat

TACURONG CITY --- Five religious extremists, four of them bomb-makers, and two members of the New People’s Army together surrendered on Sunday, a regional military official said Tuesday.

Major Gen. Juvymax Uy, commander of the Army’s 6^th Infantry Division, said the seven men turned in firearms and explosives to the 40^th Infantry Battalion before they renounced their membership with their respective groups.

Four of them were members of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, two from the NPA’s self-styled Guerilla Front-73 while another was a collector of “protection money” for the Dawlah Islamiya.

Each of them pledged allegiance to the government during a simple rite at the 40^th IB headquarters in President Quirino town in Sultan Kudarat.

The four BIFF members who surrendered, trained in fabrication of improvised explosive devices, were followers of Kagui Karialan.

Karialan, leader of one of three factions in the BIFF, is wanted for more than 30 high-profile criminal cases, including deadly acts of terror, pending in different courts in central Mindanao.

The four BIFF gunmen, the lone Dawlah Islamiya member and the two NPAs yielded through the efforts of Lt. Col. Edwin Alburo of the 40^th IB and officials of the 601^st Infantry Brigade.

Like the BIFF, the Dawlah Islamiya, also has a reputation for bombing public conveyances and business establishments if owners refuse to shell out “protection money” on monthly basis.

Both groups are operating in the fashion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

Uy said the five religious extremists and the two NPAs who surrendered to the 40^th IB shall be reintroduced by the 6^th ID to mainstream society with the help of different government line agencies.