Mindanao Armed Conflict

MIDSAYAP, North Cotabato  – Relatives of seven alleged IS linked Moro rebels slain in an encounter with government forces in Barangay Tumbras here Wednesday claimed they were innocent, minors and not rebels.

Manto Sema, grandfather of Angelo Bangon, one of the seven alleged members of Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) killed in clashes with Midsayap police and members of 34^th Infantry Battalion in a swamp area of Barangay Tumbras.

NORTH COTABATO  --- Authorities are anticipating retaliations by  local terror group after seven members  were killed Wednesday in a clash with combined police and Army personnel in Midsayap town.

A wanted bomber, Mama Macalimbol, and six of his henchmen were killed in the incident.

Macalimbol, a key member of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, is wanted for a series of recent bombings in central Mindanao.

Macalimbol faced criminal cases in local courts.

MAGUINDANAO  --- The military today warned to disengage using force two feudal Moro groups whose recurring clashes since early this week have dislocated no fewer than a thousand villagers.

Each side, one led by Butuh and the other by Balaumol, have reportedly lost two members in the hostilities, triggered by longtime squabbles for control of patches of lands in Barangay Dungguan in Datu Montawal, Maguindanao.

DATU MONTAWAL, Maguindanao  – A long standing territorial dispute between members of Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Maguindanao erupted anew Monday and set about 500 families fleeing to safer grounds.

As the warring gunmen traded bullets, education officials also suspended classes Monday and today. Elders, mothers and children rushed to the town center of Datu Montawal, Maguindanao when the protagonists started exchanging bullets at the break of dawn Monday.

ZAMBOANGA CITY - A former member of the ISIS-inspired Dawlah Islamiya/Maute Group yielded to the troops of the 49th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Poblacion Bayabao, Butig, Lanao del Sur at 10am today, October 14, 2019.

Saifoden Macaraya Maute, 36 years old, and a resident of Barangay Tagoranao, Sultan Dumalondong, Lanao del Sur also turned over one M79 Grenade Launcher and one 40mm High Explosive.

Subject surrenderor was recruited by DI/ISIS/Maute Group sub-leader Mohammad Khayam Romato Maute, a.k.a Otto, who was killed during Marawi siege.

MAGUINDANAO --- Tension between a local terror group and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front worsened after a video showing a terrorist executing an MILF member wounded in a clash circulated Sunday.

The mobile phone footage showed how a member of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, operating in the fashion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, repeatedly shot in the head an MILF fighter hurt in an encounter last week in Shariff Saidona Mustapha town in Maguindanao.

Seven MILF members were killed in last week’s incident in Shariff Saidona Mustapha.

KORONADAL CITY – Police authorities here announced today the arrest of top regional communist leader and three of his companions during checkpoint operations in Maitum, Sarangani early Thursday.

MAGUINDANAO - Officials are apprehensive of escalation of hostilities between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and a local terror group that killed seven MILF members last week.

The slain MILF guerillas, Manaut Musbil, Madz Maytum, Tongan Tot, Laguiali Ali, Pongan Ganda, Kho Mamaluba and Joemar Salansamen, belong to the MILF’s Task Force Ittihad guarding Moro villages along the 220,000-hectare Liguasan Delta from intrusion by the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, or BIFF.

MAGUINDANAO ---Members of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters killed seven fighters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in a gunfight Friday in Shariff Saidona town in this province.

The MILF is silent on its reported loss even as Facebook posts about it are now viral, some even circulated by local officials in municipalities in the second district of the province.

ISULAN, Sultan Kudarat  – The Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) Manolette on Thursday filed charges of Multiple Frustrated Murder and Multiple Attempted Murder against the seven identified suspects and their cohorts on the recent Isulan Bombing Charges at Provincial Prosecutors Office-Isulan Sultan Kudarat.

Five of the suspects were the suspected ISIS Sympathizers  who were arrested by PRO 12 operatives, AFP and counterpart agencies on September 23, 2019 while the other two identified suspects and their cohorts remain at large.