Mindanao Armed Conflict

POLOMOLOK, South Cotabato - Gunmen wounded a local government official in an ambush here on Friday morning, the local police said.

The victim, former municipal councilor Rhyolite Agregado Balili, now assistant secretary to the mayor here, was immediately rushed to a hospital by responding policemen for treatment.

Brig. Gen. Jimili Macaraeg, director of the Police Regional Office 12, said he has ordered the Polomolok municipal police force and officials of the South Cotabato Provincial Police Office to cooperate in identifying the gunmen who tried to kill Balili.

SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao Sur – A village chairperson of nearby town in Maguindanao del Sur was shot dead by two men riding tandem on motorbike on Tuesday (March 14) afternoon along the national highway here, police said.

Colonel Ruel Sermese, Maguindanao police director, identified the victim as Hadji Basit Zangkala, village chairman of Barangay Labu-Labu 2, Datu Hofer town, in Maguindanao del Sur.

SULTAN KUDARAT, Maguindanao del Norte - Two men were killed in an a daylight attack along the national highway in Crossing Simuay here on Saturday afternoon, police said.

A 5-year-old girl was injured and was brought to the hospital.

Lt. Colonel Julhamin Asdani, Sultan Kudarat municipal police station chief, identified the fatalities as Tato Mangilay Datupeno, 31, and his brother Nelson, both residents of Kalanganan 2, Cotabato City.

The girl, daughter of one of the fatalities, is now recperating in the hospital.

DATU ODIN SINSUAT, Maguindanao Norte – Military and police authorities in Maguindanao del Sur are placed on heightened alert as they brace for possible retaliation from extremists group who were killed when they traded shots with soldiers in Maguindanao del Sur.

DATU ODIN, Maguindanao Norte – Five gunmen were killed in separate government law enforcement operations in Maguindanao del Sur and North Cotabato province Saturday.

In Pikit, three gunmen were killed when they resisted arrest and traded shots with police and military personnel serving warrants of arrest, according to Major Gen. Alex Rillera, 6th Infantry Division commander.

COTABATO CITY --- Four more members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters surrendered Wednesday and promised to help convince former companions to return to the fold of law.

The BIFF operates in the fashion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and is blamed, along with allies Al-Khobar and Dawlah Islamiya, for all deadly bombings in central Mindanao since 2014.

COTABATO CITY --- The police seized P643,000 worth of shabu from two different dealers, both linked to the Dawlah Islamiya, entrapped in separate operations Tuesday in Cotabato province.

In a statement Wednesday, the office of Brig. Gen. Jimili Macaraeg, director of the Police Regional Office 12, identified the suspects as Fahad Macauyag, 44, and the 32-year-old Mojahid Silva, now locked in detention facilities.

COTABATO CITY - Three members of the New People’s Army collecting “revolutionary tax” from villagers were killed in a firefight with soldiers in Sultan Kudarat province Thursday.

Brig. Gen. Michael Santos, commander of the Army’s 603^rd Infantry Brigade, said Friday personnel of the 7^th Infantry Battalion also found four assault rifles, grenades and ammunition of various calibers in the scene of the encounter in Barangay Banali in Senator Ninoy Aquino town.

Senator Ninoy Aquino is an upland town in Sultan Kudarat province in Region 12.

Nadiskubre ang iba’t ibang mga kagamitang pandigma ng Communist Terrorist Group mula sa Guerilla Front 73 MUSA Far South Mindanao Region (FSMR) ang nadiskubre ng Sarangani PNP sa sa Sitio Balete, Brgy. Batian, Maitum, Sarangani Province nito lamang Marso 1, 2023.

COTABATO CITY - Stakeholders were elated with Tuesday’s deployment of a battalion-size Special Action Force contingent in Pikit, Cotabato to help address the nagging security problems in the municipality. 

The SAF is an elite combat-ready unit of the Philippine National Police, ready for more extensive and intricate law-enforcement operations.