'Terror group member' slain in SoCot clash

GENERAL SANTOS CITY – An alleged member of an Islamic State-inspired local terrorist group was killed while three others managed to escape in an encounter with police operatives in Polomolok town, South Cotabato province on Tuesday evening.

Capt. Randy Apostol, deputy chief of the Polomolok municipal police station, said Wednesday the still-unidentified suspect was slain during a shootout with patrolling police officers in Barangay Pagalungan past 10 p.m.

Police officers spotted the four unidentified men riding in tandem on two motorcycles who were "moving suspiciously" in the area, Apostol said.

“As the patrol team approached, the suspects sped off and opened fire, prompting them to retaliate while on pursuit,” he said in an interview.

Apostol said the suspects managed to escape and was last seen heading towards the outskirts of the village.

Several hours later, he said a team of police officers returned to the site and found an abandoned Honda XRM motorcycle along with the slain suspect at a portion of Purok 1-Maligaya in Pagalungan.

A police report said the deceased gunman, who was apparently killed during the shootout, yielded seven sachets of suspected shabu and an Uzi sub-machine gun.

Also found in the trail of the fleeing suspects was a caliber .45 handgun and a caliber 5.56mm NATO assault rifle that was taken from one of the policemen who was killed in an ambush in Barangay Koronadal Proper in April.

Scene-of-the-crime operatives recovered at the scene of the encounter at least 16 fired slugs from various firearms.

The motorcycle, which was found with an expired license plate, was traced to have been stolen from Tupi town.  

Apostol said manhunt operations are ongoing against the three other gunmen, who were identified as Russel Mamo, Abu Saif, and Jayrol Darino.

“These were based on the result of our ongoing investigation and accounts from witnesses,” he said, adding that the suspects were members of the Dawlah Islamiyah - Maguid faction’s Nilong sub-group, which had been the subject of law enforcement operations in parts of Polomolok in the past two years.

The group had been tagged as behind the series of killings, robbery, motorcycle theft, drug trafficking, and other criminal activities in Polomolok and neighboring areas. It was linked to the bomb attack in front of a lying-in clinic here in September 2018 that left eight people wounded.

The Nilong Group was reportedly allied with the defunct Sarangani-based terror group Ansar Al-Khilafah Philippines, which was part of the local network of the Dawlah Islamiyah. (PNA)