Ambusher of Army COVID-19 frontliner shot dead

MAGUINDANAO --- Soldiers killed Friday a suspect in the fatal ambush Tuesday of a companion from a six-hour coronavirus quarantine checkpoint duty in Radjah Buayan town. 

Sainudin Nilong of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters died on the spot from bullet wounds sustained in a brief clash with personnel of the Army’s 33^rd Infantry Battalion dispatched to check on his reported presence in Barangay Tabungao in Radjah Buayan, Maguindanao.

Nilong, a bomb-maker, was one of two suspects behind the ambush Tuesday of 33^rd IB’s Private 1^st Class Jerome Tahad, an anti-COVID-19 frontliner. 

Tahad was on his way to their command post from a quarantine enforcement duty in a checkpoint in Barangay Zapakan, Radja Buayan when he was attacked from behind by Nilong and an accomplice, now subject of a joint police and military manhunt.

Municipal police probers said Nilong and his companions opened fire at the soldiers approaching their hideout from two directions, sparking a 20-minute running gunfight. 

The encounter waned after the BIFF bandits coddling Nilong ran out of ammunition and scampered away. 

The 33^rd IB, in a report Friday to Major Gen. Diosdado Carreon of the 6^th Infantry Division, said soldiers found in Nilong’s hideout improvised explosive devices, components for homemade roadside bombs and ammunition for assault rifles.