Another soldier hurt in attack by suspected Dawlah hitmen

COTABATO CITY -- Suspected members of the Dawlah Islamiya shot and wounded an off duty soldier in another attack here Sunday.

Private 1^st Class Ryan Itao, who is assigned in the headquarters of the Army’s 6^th Infantry Division in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao, sustained bullet wounds in the shoulder and neck.

He was on a motorcycle when he was attacked while motoring through the De Mazenod area in Barangay Rosary Heights 5 northeast of Cotabato City.

Police and Army intelligence officials said the attempt to kill Itao was pulled off in a manner similar to the gun attacks in Cotabato City and in Maguindanao province in the past three years that killed more than 30 unarmed soldiers.

The atrocities were all blamed on hitmen of the Dawlah Islamiya, also known as the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, operating in the fashion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

The group has a reputation for killing off-duty unsuspecting soldiers out on breaks and weekend passes to avenge losses in encounters with pursuing military units.