Commander tagged in `Mamasapano incident' arrested
BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES • 08:45 AM Thu Feb 27, 2020
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By:
John M. Unson
COTABATO CITY --- The police arrested Wednesday while in a hospital a ranking Moro commander wanted for the death of 44 policemen in a clash in Mamasapano town in Maguindanao on January 25, 2015.
Agents of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region served Abuhalil Sabpa the warrant for his arrest right in one of the wards in the Cotabato Regional Medical Center here where is confined for an illness.
Sabpa, a senior member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and his followers were tagged in the January 25, 2015 attack on a contingent of the police's Special Action Force in Barangay Tukanalipao in Mamasapano that resulted in the deaths of 44 SAF personnel.
The bloody encounter, now known as the “Mamasapano incident,” left 44 SAF operatives, 15 MILF guerrillas and five villagers dead.
The warrant for the arrest of Sabpa was issued by Judge Alandrex Betoya of the Regional Trial Court Branch 15 in Cotabato City.
He was arrested after the police reportedly learned of his confinement in a hospital in Cotabato City from tipsters, among them residents of Mamasapano helping locate the gunmen implicated in the gruesome deaths of the 44 SAF personnel.
The 44 slain policemen were retreating from Pidsandawan area in Mamasapano after killing there in a brief gunfight Malaysian terrorist Zulkfili bin Hir, alias Marwan, when MILF guerrillas and gunmen belonging to the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters attacked them from different directions, sparking a 10-hour encounter.
The MILF had said the bloody clash could have been avoided if the SAF operation was coordinated properly with its commanders on the ground based on security agreements binding the group and the government to cooperate in addressing security issues in conflict flashpoint areas.