Mindanao Armed Conflict

KABACAN, North Cotabato - Uidentified gunmen ambushed and killed Thursday night a off duty soldier in Barangay Kayaga here at past 6 p.m., police said.

Major Maxim Peralta, Kabacan town police chief, identified the fatality as Private First Class John Ian Paul Castor, 30, assigned with the 90th Infantry Battalion based in Pikit, North Cotabato.

Peralta said in a radio interview that Castor was driving his Honda XR 150 going to Kabacan when two men on separate motorbike opened fire, hitting the soldier in his back and fell off his bike.

COTABATO CITY --- Villagers found Friday in a secluded barangay in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte the cadaver of a missing money-lending firm collector, stabbed in the chest, both hands and ankles tied, face wrapped with packing tape.

Lt. Col. Julhamin Asdani, Sultan Kudarat municipal police chief, told reporters the slain Ireneo Braga Discuatin, Jr. was an employee of the Khan Dabra Trading in nearby Pigcawayan town in Cotabato province, owned by Indian nationals engaged in money-lending business.

MANILA – Operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) arrested a supporter of the Islamic State-inspired Maute terror group and two ranking communist rebels in separate operations in Lanao del Sur and Isabela.

In a statement on Thursday, CIDG chief Maj. Gen. Romeo Caramat Jr. said Cedric Casano, 29, and Charlotte Velasco, 28, ranking officials of the New People's Army (NPA) in Isabela were arrested during the implementation of a search warrant by the composite team from the CIDG in Barangay Upi in Gamu, Isabela on Tuesday.

GEN. SANTOS CITY - Law enforcement agencies executed a warrant of arrest in Barangay Poblacion, Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat, resulting in the apprehension of Aileen Manipol Villarosa, 41 years old and a resident of Purok Palmera, Barangay Sta. Clara, Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat on July 1, 2023.

Ms. Villarosa, a NGO worker affiliated with Rural Missionaries of the Philippines - Northern Mindanao Region, was taken into custody as per the warrant issued for her arrest.

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao Norte – Saying they have had enough of the difficult life in the mountains, three communist New People's Army (NPA) rebels voluntarily surrendered in North Cotabato province, the military here said Friday.

Maj. Gen. Alex Rillera, the Army’s 6th Infantry Division commander, identified the surrenderers only as “Emman,” “Oscar,” and “Bobong.”

They belonged to the NPA Guerilla Front 53, Sub-Regional Committee 3, Southern Mindanao Regional Committee.

COTABATO CITY - Gunmen killed a Moro couple in an ambush in Shariff Aguak town in Maguindanao del Sur at dusk Thursday, an attack that caused panic among villagers.

Major Haron Macabanding, Shariff Aguak municipal police chief, told reporters Friday Nokoy Abdul, 54, and his 49-year-old spouse, Siaya, both died on the spot from multiple gunshot wounds.

They were together in their tricycle, on their way home from the town proper of Shariff Aguak, when their attackers, positioned along their route in Barangay Labu-Labu Mother, opened fire, killing them instantly.

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao del Norte – Nabawi ng 57th Infantry (Masikap) Battalion nitong Lunes ng hapon (June 26, 2023) ang dalawang M16 rifles ng Communist Terrorist Group matapos ang engkwentrong naganap sa Barangay Batang Bagras, Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat.

Ayon kay Lt. Col. Guillermo Mabute Jr., 57IB Commander, habang patuloy ang kanilang security operations ay naka-engkwentro ng 57IB ang nasa 13 na mga myembro ng komunistang teroristang grupo o CTG na tumagal ng 15 minuto.

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao del Norte – Agad na nadis-armahan ng ating mga magigiting na kasundaluhan ang dalawang mga unexploded ordnance (UXO) na magkahiwalay na natagpuan sa lalawigan ng Sultan Kudarat at Maguindanao del Sur.

Ayon kay Lt. Col. Jayson Domingo, pinuno ng 1st Mechanized Battalion, nagpapatrolya ang kanyang mga tauhan sa bahagi ng Barangay Sigayan, Lambayong, Sultan Kudarat, pasado alas-6:00 ng umaga kahapon nang matagpuan ang UXO na isang rocket propelled grenade (RPG).

KINILALA ni Radjah Buayan PNP Chief Captain Joel Lebrilla ang biktima na si Said Mauyag, nasa hustong gulang at kasapi ng 5th Battalion, 4th Brigade, Inner Defense, 118th Base Command ng Moro Islamic Liberation Front o MILF na taga Barangay Old Maganoy, Mamasapano, Maguindanao Del Sur.

Nangyari ang pamamaril sa Sitio Nunuk, Barangay Zapakan, Rajah Buayan, Maguindanao Del Sur.

Ayon sa report ng PNP, sakay ang biktima sa kanyang itim na Honda XRM nang lapitan ng gunman sakay naman ng Honda CRF 150 at pinagbabaril.

COTABATO CITY – The police operation against a former town mayor in Sulu who have search warrants rose to more than 5,000, the social welfare office in Sulu said.

In his social media post, Member of Parliament Nabil Tan reported that many of the displaced families Matatal Gym, Maimbung, Sulu. Most of them from Bualo Lipid who fled their homes firefight erupted between government forces and armed followers of former Maimbung Vice Mayor Pando Mudjasan.

Police were to serve arrest warrants against Mudjasan for various crimes but he resisted, triggering heavy firefight.