Google map of Pandag, Maguindanao.
CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao -- A suspected member of Islamic State-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) believed to be involved in a recent clash with members of the government partner Moro Islamic Liberation Front was killed during a law enforcement operation in Pandag, Maguindanao on Sunday.
Soldiers belonging to the Army’s 40th Infantry Battalion (40IB) were conducting a checkpoint in Barangay Malangit, Pandag, when Kalinga Kamsa, an alleged BIFF member, passed by and was flagged down around 6:15 a.m.
“He refused and tried to escape,” according to Maj. Gen. Diosdado Carreon, the Army’s 6th Infantry Division commander, in a report to Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) chief, Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana.
Hours earlier, Kamsa managed to elude 40IB troopers who were about to arrest him following a tip from civilians that he was keeping guns and explosives in his home.
Kamsa fled on a motorbike and upon approaching the checkpoint, Carreon said Kamsa ignored the order of authorities to stop and instead opened fire on government forces.
The soldiers returned fire, killing Kamsa on the spot.
Seized from the suspect were a .45-caliber pistol and two fragmentation grenades kept inside the sling bag.
Carreon said Kamsa had been placed under surveillance for a month after reports indicated he belonged to the BIFF.
In a statement, Sobejana said: “While we are continuously conducting focused military operations, we are encouraging the remaining BIFF combatants to surrender and avail of the government’s livelihood programs prepared for them."
A weekend gun battle that transpired in the interiors of Shariff Saydona Mustapha town in this province has left seven MILF members and four BIFF rebels killed due to long-standing land conflict.
Government forces have secured the peripheries of Shariff Saydona Mustapha to prevent a spillover of the skirmishes.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1082433
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.