Another Army COVID-19 frontliner killed in Dawlah Islamiya attack

MAGUINDANAO --- Dawlah Islamiya bandits killed another Army anti-coronavirus frontliner in an attack in Radjah Buayan town late Tuesday.

The fatality, Pfc. Jerome Tahad of the Army’s 33^rd Infantry Battalion, died on the spot from multiple bullet wounds.

He was returning to their command post in Barangay Zapakan in Rajah Buayan from a six-hour duty in a quarantine checkpoint nearby when Dawlah Islamiya gunmen shot him with assault rifles.

Tahad’s companions returned fire, forcing his killers to scamper away.

Two members of the Army’s 57^th IB, Corporals Jermie Ombiang and Vicente Gata, were also killed about two weeks ago by Dawlah Islamiya gunmen in a similar attack while enforcing COVID-19 quarantine regulations in an upland barangay in nearby Datu Hoffer, Maguindanao.

The Dawlah Islamiya, also known as the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, is using the flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria as revolutionary banner.

The Army’s 6^th Infantry Division, which has jurisdiction over the 33^rd and 57^th IBs, gave Ombiang and Gata military honors before sending their remains to their hometowns following a three day wake at Camp Siongco in Maguindanao, 6^th ID’s command center.