Dawlah member dead, 3 hurt in Maguindanao del Sur clash
Mindanao Armed Conflict • 16:15 PM Mon Sep 25, 2023
619
By:
John Felix Unson
The Army’s 40th Infantry Battalion is now in custody of the firearms of the slain Merlo Pasandalan Mling. (From 6th ID Public Affairs Office)
COTABATO CITY - Soldiers shot dead a member of the Dawlah Islamiya and wounded three others in an encounter over the weekend in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao del Sur.
Army Brig. Gen. Oriel Libres Pangcog, commander of the 601st Infantry Brigade, and Col. Roel Rullan Sermese, Maguindanao del Sur police director, separately confirmed to reporters on Monday that a long-wanted terrorist named Merlo Pasandalan Mling was killed in a brief clash on Saturday morning with patrolling personnel of the 40th Infantry Battalion near the town proper of Ampatuan.
Pangcog said the firefight broke out when Mling and his companions opened fire on soldiers dispatched to check their presence in the area, as reported by villagers.
Confidential informants, among them Muslim clerics opposed to the activities of the Dawlah Islamiya, have confirmed to reporters and officials of the Army's 6th Infantry Division that three of Mling’s companions, Kadir Tangan Mindoh, Samarudin Didao Namla and Salem Muntak Junaid were wounded in the ensuing gunfight.
The three wounded terrorists were seen being carried away from the scene by companions as they fled when they sensed that Army and police reinforcements were closing in.
Pangcog said soldiers found beside Mling’s cadaver an M79 grenade launcher, an M14 assault rifle, and an improvised .45 caliber machine pistol, now in the custody of the 40th IB.