4 more Dawlah bandits neutralized in South Cotabato

KORONADAL CITY --- Police teams killed four members of the Dawlah Islamiya in separate operations the past two days in Polomolok, South Cotabato.

The first to fall was Ottho Alangan, who was killed in a shootout with combined personnel of the Police Regional Office-12 and the Army’s 5^th Special Forces Battalion in Barangay Lumakil, Polomolok.

Policemen were to serve him an arrest warrant for crimes in connection with Dawlah Islamiya’s terror activities but killed him instead when he refused to yield peacefully and provoked a gunfight.

Another member of the terror group, Muadz Modjih, was killed in a brief clash with pursuing soldiers and policemen several hours later.

Two more Dawlah Islamiya members, Noel Castrana and Amer Pagalasan, were shot dead by law-enforcement agents in a follow up operation also in Polomolok a day after.

Brig. Gen. Michael John Dubria, director of PRO-12 based in nearby General Santos City, said Wednesday the slain gunmen belonged to a Dawlah Islamiya group led jointly by the wanted terrorists Geofrey Nilong and Abu Omar.

The Dawlah Islamiya, also known as the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, operate in the fashion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

The group is tagged as behind all deadly bombings in Region 12 and in nearby Bangsamoro provinces since 2015. 

Dubria said the PRO-12 is grateful to the vigilant Polomolok residents who helped them carry out the law-enforcement operations that led to the deaths of the four Dawlah Islamiya bandits.