15 IEDs, grenade found in lair of wanted bomber in South Cotabato
Local News • 14:45 PM Mon Jul 26, 2021
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By:
John M. Unson
The personal belongings of the elusive bomber Jaiden Nilong that soldiers found in his hideout Sunday. (From 601st Infantry Brigade)
KORONADAL CITY --- Soldiers found 15 home-made bombs and a fragmentation grenade in an abandoned lair of terrorists following a brief encounter Sunday.
Personnel of units under the 601st Infantry Brigade immediately deactivated the improvised explosive devices recovered in the hideout of Dawlah Islamiya bomber Jaiden Nilong in a secluded area at the border of South Cotabato’s adjoining T’boli and Polomolok towns.
The Dawlah Islamiya, which has three subgroups, the Ansa’r Khilafa Philippines, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the Al-Khobar extortion gang, uses the flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria as its banner.
Brig. Gen. Roy Galido of the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade said Monday Nilong was the target of their operation, launched after farmers in the boundary of T’boli and Polomolok reported his presence in the area late Saturday.
Nilong and his companions opened fire at soldiers approaching their hideout from three directions, provoking a shootout that forced them to scamper away, leaving their IEDs behind.
Nilong was reportedly trained in fabrication of EIDs by Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli Bin Hir, alias Marwan, killed on January 25, 2015 by members of the police’s Special Action Force in Mamasapano town in Maguindanao.
Major Gen. Juvymax Uy, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said Monday he has directed Galido and battalion commanders under him to continue the hunt for Nilong and his accomplices.
Nilong was tagged in all deadly bombings in General Santos City in the past five years.