Dawlah Islamiya is minus 3 more men
Mindanao Armed Conflict • 07:00 AM Thu Feb 13, 2020
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By:
John M. Unson
The weapons turned in by the three Dawlah Islamiya members. (Contributed photo)
NORTH COTABATO --- Three more members of the Dawlah Islamiya surrendered to the 7th Infantry Battalion of the Army’s 602nd Brigade in North Cotabato province Wednesday.
The confessed terrorists Terek Nao, Tato Bantas and Tatowan Gandawali are now undergoing tactical debriefing as a prelude to their rehabilitation and reintroduction to mainstream society.
They turned in one .50 caliber Barret sniping rifle, an M79 grenade launcher, a 9 millimeter machine pistol and two home-made roadside bombs.
No fewer than 50 members of the Dawlah Islamiya, also known as the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and blamed for all deadly bombings in Central Mindanao since 2011, have surrendered since 2017 to units of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division covering the region.
The Dawlah Islamiya has been trying to sabotage the peace process between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, whose leader, Hadji Ahod Ebrahim, is now appointed chief minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Units of the 602nd Brigade had seized IEDs and other combat provisions found by soldiers in a lair of the Dawlah Islamiya in Pikit, North Cotabato early on.