Army hunts down DI extremists in Maguindanao Sur grenade attack

 From the Philippine News Agency (Feb 21, 2024): Army hunts down DI extremists in Maguindanao Sur grenade attack (By Edwin Fernandez)

Google map of Shariff Aguak town, Maguindanao del Sur.

SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao del Sur – Military and police forces here have launched a manhunt against motorcycle-riding men who tossed a hand grenade inside an Army outpost that wounded two soldiers and a militiaman Tuesday afternoon.

Major Saber Balogan, civil-military operations chief of the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade, said the attack was perpetrated by the local Dawlah Islamiya (DI) terror group.

“It could be a retaliation by DI group members due to a successful military operation against them in Maguindanao del Sur,” Balogan said in a radio interview Wednesday.

He identified the victims as Sgts. Jester Arsulo and Bryan Baylon, and also Datu Nor Akmad, a member of the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU), all under the Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion.

Balogan said the victims were inside the CAFGU patrol base in the village of Timbangan when two men aboard a motorbike lobbed the hand grenade toward the roadside detachment and sped away.

The wounded infantrymen are now being treated at the Army hospital in Camp Siongco, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1219254