Marine killed, 3 hurt in Lanao del Sur ambush by terror group

COTABATO CITY --- Local terrorists killed a member of the Navy’s 2^nd Marine Battalion and wounded three Marines in an ambush afternoon Saturday in Marogong, Lanao del Sur.

Brig. Gen. John Guyguyon, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, identified the fatality as Marine Sgt. John Milbert Pamaran, who died on the spot from multiple bullet wounds.

Three other personnel of the 2^nd Marine Battalion, Cpl. Mark Anthony Bañares, Sgt. Jeram Aradji and Sgt. Joan Aniñon, were wounded in the attack.

Local officials and Maranao religious leaders told reporters Sunday Pamaran and his companions were out for a community outreach mission when they were attacked by Dawlah Islamiya gunmen led by Faharudin Hadji Satar in Barangay Cabarasan in Marogong.

The Dawlah Islamiya, operating in the fashion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, is known for fomenting hatred for non-Muslims and have a reputation for bombing commercial establishments and buses whose owners refuse to shell out "protection money" on a monthly basis. 

Guyguyon and Army Lt. General Roy Galido, commander of the military's Western Mindanao Command, separately said Sunday that informants have confirmed that the ambush in Barangay Cabasaran was a ploy to create the impression that the Dawlah Islamiya in Lanao del Sur and other provinces in central Mindanao had not been weakened by the surrender of no fewer than 300 members in the past 14 months.

Army units under the 103^rd Infantry Brigade and personnel of different companies under the 1^st Marine Brigade had killed at least 19 Dawlah Islamiya members in one encounter after another during the period.