Another JTFC man killed in clash with Dawlah terrorists
Mindanao Armed Conflict • 09:00 AM Sat Nov 30, 2019
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By:
John M. Unson
MAGUINDANAO -- Another soldier perished in an encounter Thursday with Dawlah Islamiya gunmen in the province.
Sgt. Donald Devalid of the 1st Mechanized Infantry Battalion, a component unit of the Joint Task Force Central, or JTFC, succumbed to a bullet wound in the upper torso sustained in combat with Dawlah Islamiya terrorists who attacked them while patrolling in Barangay Kitango in Datu Saudi, Maguindanao.
The incident was preceded by a series of clashes between units of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division comprising the JTFC and members of the Dawlah Islamiya, also known as the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, in Maguindanao’s adjoining Mamasapano and Shariff Saidona Mustapha towns that exacted fatalities on both sides.
The hostilities in Barangay Kitango erupted just after the 6th ID announced that it is anticipating possible retaliations by the Dawlah Islamiya for the death of three members, two of them related by blood to wanted terrorist Abu Toraife in an encounter with pursuing soldiers in nearby Shariff Saidona Mustapha, Maguindanao three days before.
Abu Turaife, whose real name is Abdulmalik Esmael, is tagged in deadly bombings in central Mindanao in recent years.
He is eloquent in fomenting discord among Muslims and non-Muslims and in stoking animosity towards the government in his sermons during Friday Islamic worship rites.
Abu Toraife and his followers are hostile to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front whose current peace process with Malacañang they have obviously been trying to sabotage.
Companions of the slain Devalid collected a number of improvised explosive devices attached to booby traps planted around enclaves of the Dawlah Islamiya that they helped clear from terrorists via JTFT tactical maneuvers early on.