Soldier commits suicide in hostile Maguindanao town

DATU SAUDI AMPATUAN, Maguindanao - A member of the Army’s 40^th Infantry Battalion committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree in Barangay Kabinge here.

Barangay officials and personnel of the Datu Saudi Ampatuan Municipal Police found the cadaver of Private 1^st Class Manuel Catalan on Wednesday, three days after he was seen walking along a stretch of a highway in Barangay Kabinge here.

The spot were Catalan committed suicide is within range of snipers in the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighter which operates in the fashion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

The Datu Saudi Municipal Police Station and officials of the Army’s 40^th Infantry Battalion are still probing on the suicide incident.

The 40^th IB is a component-unit of the Army’s 6^th Infantry Division.