2 in gang behind deadly Basilan ambush now detained
TIMRA Reports • 10:45 AM Thu Aug 17, 2023
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By:
John Felix Unson
Adzmin Manjapal and Mudzni Sapau are now both detained. (From 101st Infantry Brigade)
COTABATO CITY - Two of the gunmen behind Saturday’s ambush in Ungkaya Pukan that left a soldier and a policeman dead had surrendered and confessed to their involvement in the atrocity.
Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, told reporters Thursday Adzmin Manjapal and Mudzni Sapau yielded last Wednesday to Army Brig. Gen. Alvin Luzon of the 101st Infantry Brigade.
Nobleza said the duo turned themselves in through the joint intercession of the 101st Infantry Brigade, the local police, leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Ungkaya Pukan and nearby towns and members of the multi-sector Basilan Provincial Peace and Order Council led by Basilan Gov. Jim Salliman.
Luzon, in a signed statement dispatched Wednesday, said Manjapal and Sapau, both Yakans, belong to a rogue MILF group operating in interior areas in Ungkaya Pukan.
Luzon said the MILF’s Coordinating Committee on Cessation of Hostilities in Basilan helped locate Manjapal and Sapau, now awaiting prosecution.
A member of the Army’s 64th Infantry Battalion, Pvt. Marjohn Tenido, and Police Cpl. Abdurafic Akalun were killed and seven soldiers were badly hurt when Manjapal, Sapau and their companions attacked them on Saturday afternoon while on their way to Barangay Ulitan in Ungkaya Pukan to coordinate with local leaders the 64th IB’s supposed medical mission for villagers in the area.
Residents of Ungkaya Pukan are no strangers to hostilities, having witnessed deadly military-MILF clashes in their barangays in recent years.