Mindanao Armed Conflict

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- A village official was killed in an ambush while a former barangay executive was injured in another incident here in the region, a police official said Thursday.

Maj. Helen Galvez, Police Regional Office-9 (PRO-9) information officer, identified the victims as Mario Japal, a councilor in Barangay Maligue, Isabela City, Basilan; and Tuayong Salam Laudin, 68, former barangay chairperson of Suhaile Arabi, Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte.

COTABATO CITY  – A text message sent by still unidentified man led to the arrest of Central Mindanao’s most wanted man inside a hospital here Wednesday.

After the message was validated and counter-checked, police and anti-narcotic agents arrested Samad Masgal, alias Commander Madrox of the IS linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) inside the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center.

COTABATO CITY --- Soldiers shot dead two New People’s Army guerillas in a brief encounter Sunday in Talakag town in Bukidnon province.

The 10-minute gunfight erupted when NPAs fired at personnel of the Army’s 65th Infantry Battalion dispatched to check on the reported presence of rebels in Barangay San Rafael, Talakag collecting money from hapless residents.

ZAMBOANGA CITY - Military troops discovered an arms cache, disclosed by four communist rebels after they surrendered in Titay, Zamboanga Sibugay on August 8, 2019.

Soldiers recovered one M14 rifle, one AK-47, one Carbine rifle, and one Caliber .38 Revolver from the arms cache on Thursday.

Said communist rebels, including the NPA amazons’ team leader and medic, yielded to 44th Infantry Battalion troops in Titay.

They yielded two land mines, ammunition, cellular phones, and subversive documents.

BONGAO, Tawi-Tawi - “Let us continue to develop the competencies required on us, not only in war fighting, but also in operations other than war for the sake of peace in Mindanao,” said Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, commander of Western Mindanao Command, during his visit to military troops in Tawi-Tawi on August 6.

Sobejana urged Joint Task Force Tawi-Tawi troops to maintain their resolve by strengthening interagency and multi-sector cooperation to bridge peace in the operational area.

PIKIT, North Cotabato - Residents from marshy village of Dasawao in Shariff Saydona, Maguindanao who crossed the marshland toward in Pikit, North Cotabato has demanded the government to halt offensives if it cannot not handle well the situation of evacuees in shelter areas.

Women from Dasawao Sector 4 were fuming mad after learning relief goods from the government landed in the hands of non-evacuees. They spoke to www.ndbcnews.com.ph on condition they will not be named publicly.

SULTAN KUDARAT --- Authorities are anticipating retaliations by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters for the arrest Saturday of a key member implicated in two bomb attacks in Isulan town last year.

The 27-year-old Tutin Kuti, a Maguindanaon, is now detained at the Isulan municipal police office.

He is to be prosecuted for his alleged involvement in the August 28 and September 3, 2018 bombings in Isulan town in Sultan Kudarat that killed 5 people and injured more than 60 others, many of them minors.

ISULAN, Sultan Kudarat  – Police arrested over the weekend one of the suspects charged for involvement in one of the two bombings here that left three persons dead and hurt 36 others in August last year.

The suspect, according to Lt. Colonel Junny Buenacosa, Isulan town police chief, is believed to be a member of IS linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters tagged as responsible in the August 28 roadside bombing while the town was preparing its foundation anniversary.

MAGUINDANAO --- Nine more militants were killed in recurring clashes since Thursday between soldiers and a local Islamic State-inspired group wanted for deadly bombings.

The Western Mindanao Command reported Tuesday morning that personnel of the Army’s 6^thInfantry Division neutralized nine more members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters by noontime Monday in gunfights in Shariff Saidona Mustapha town in Maguindanao.

MAGUINDANAO --- Soldiers are still running after militants, six of them foreigners fabricating explosives for the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, in a continuing crackdown launched Thursday

The Army’s 6^th Infantry Division and the police on Sunday tightened security in central Mindanao to forestall retaliations by the BIFF for the deaths of six gunmen in hostilities in marshes in Shariff Saidona Mustapha, Maguindanao close to the 220,000-hectare Liguasan Delta.