Mindanao Armed Conflict

COTABATO CITY - Two guerillas and a militiaman got killed while four others were wounded in separate clashes by rival Moro groups in Maguindanao del Sur province between Monday dawn until late Tuesday. 

The provincial police and the Army’s 6^th Infantry Division separately announced Wednesday that militiaman Ibrahim Abas was killed in the crossfire between rival Moro Islamic Liberation Front  members who figured in firefights Monday in Barangay Bakat in Radjah Buayan, Maguindanao del Sur.

AMPATUAN, Maguindanao del Sur - HUMUPA NA ANG TENSYON sa Mamasapano, Maguindanao del Sur matapos magkabakbakan ang kasapi ng Moro Islamic Liberation Front at Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters na ikinasawi ng 2 MILF members at pagkasugat ng apat pang kasamahan nila.

Nasawi sina MILF members Muhidin Kasanudin at Mackboy Mama at sugartan ang apat nilang kasamahan na pawang kasapi ng MILF 105th base command sa pamumuno ni Commander Ben Tikaw.

COTABATO CITY --- Gunmen shot dead a Moro elementary school teacher and seriously hurt his son and nephew in an attack in Sultan sa Barongis, Maguindanao del Sur on Monday Morning.

In a statement Tuesday, the Maguindanao Provincial Police Office identified the fatality as Benjie Maon of the Mileb Elementary School in Radjah Buayan, Maguindanao del Sur.

COTABATO CITY - Authorities are guarding against possible rise in cases of vehicle theft after policemen gunned down a local terrorist who stole a motorcycle in Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat.

The slain suspect, Zapale Omar, was a member of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, according to police and Army intelligence units.

Personnel of the Esperanza Municipal Police Station, led by Major Samuel Domingo, tried to flag him down in Barangay Sagasa after he stole a motorcycle in the area but neutralized him instead when he pulled a gun and opened fire. 

COTABATO CITY - Two were killed while six others were hurt in separate gunfights here and in nearby Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte between late Tuesday and before dawn Wednesday.

Col. Querubin Manalang, director of the Cotabato City Police Office, told reporters Wednesday two members of the Moro National Liberation Front were killed while five others were hurt when men armed with assault rifles from Barangay Bitu in Datu Odin Sinsuat town attacked their village in Barangay Tamontaka 2 here early Wednesday, sparking a gunfight.

COTABATO CITY - Authorities arrested Tuesday in President Roxas, Cotabato a wanted bomb-maker of the Dawlah Islamiya wanted for deadly bombings in central Mindanao.

Brig. Gen. Roy Galido, commander of the Army’s 6^th Infantry Division, and Brig. Gen. Jamili Macaraeg, director of the Police Regional Office-12, separately confirmed Wednesday the arrest of the suspect, Jordan Akmad, now detained.

POLOMOLOK, South Cotabato - Gunmen shot dead another member of the municipal Civil Security Unit here Monday, the third in just three days. 

Col. Nathaniel Villegas, South Cotabato provincial police director, said Tuesday the fatality, Donald Cabigas, 65, died on the spot from multiple bullet wounds.

Cabigas, intelligence officer of the Polomolok CSU, was a retired police major, according to relatives. 

Cabigas was attacked on Monday afternoon by men armed with 9 millimeter and .45 caliber pistols in Tuazon Subdivision in Polomolok, killing him on the spot.

COTABATO CITY --- A militiamen and four others, among them a 10-year-old boy, were hurt as gunmen shot with assault rifles a detachment in Lamitan City, Basilan late Sunday.

The 36-year Romy Alano Mangkabung, who is a member of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit, his wife Hasma, 30, their 10-year-old nephew and a daughter of another militiaman, Nasira Moreno, 20, sustained bullet wounds in different parts of their bodies.

They are now confined in the Lamitan City District Hospital.

COTABATO CITY - The police seized 10 assault rifles from an Indonesian and two Filipino companions intercepted Saturday at a checkpoint in Kiamba town in Sarangani. 

The Indonesian Anton Gobay, 29, and his Filipino companions, Michael Tino, 25, and the 53-year-old Jimmy Adolbe, are now clamped down in a detention facility of the Kiamba Municipal Police Station.

KORONADAL CITY --- Gunmen killed two personnel of a municipal civil security unit in an ambush Friday night in nearby Polomolok town in South Cotabato.

In an initial report Friday, the Polomolok Municipal Police Station identified the fatalities as Bonifacio Cabisada, 58, and his 56-year-old companion, Jessie Arciete.

They both died on the spot from multiple bullet wounds.

The office of Brig. Gen. Jamili Macaraeg, director of the Police Regional Office 12, said in a statement Saturday that Cabisada was a retired policeman.