JTFC drowns enemy’s lair in Liguasan Marsh

CAMP SIONGCO, Awang, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao --- A focused military operation launched by the Joint Task Force Central (JTFC) has eradicated the identified improvised explosive device (IED) factory of the terrorists at its identified lair in the vast southern Liguasan Marsh in Maguindanao province.

The JTFC launched a surgical air strike at the  identified and confirmed targets that complemented a focused ground operations against the DAESH-inspired terrorist group sometime dawn of June 10, 2018.

With the successful operations, government security forces were able to negate death, destruction, and panic the manufactured  IEDs could have caused the peaceful communities.

Follow-on operations contained the terrorists in the area and prevented a spill-over to nearby towns.

The operation resulted to the destruction of an IED factory of the DAESH-inspired terrorists, recovery of a certain number of IEDs, death of 15 who were killed in action and wounding of eight, and the arrest of one bomb expert and his wife.

The pre-dawn raid on the terrorist lair was conducted by the ground troops of the 33rd Infantry Battalion led by Lt Col. Harold M. Cabunoc, 4th Special Action Battalion led by Police Superintendent Darwin Padla, and 61st Division Reconnaissance Company led by 1Lt Ruel Fortuna.

The terrorists traded fires with the 33rd IB troopers but they were outmaneuvered after about an hour of fire-fight, prompting two terrorists to surrender.

The duo were identified as Ustadz Anwar Ali, 22, and Asnaya Ali, 20.

       

The soldiers confiscated a Cal .50 sniper rifle and Cal 5.56mm M4 Carbine from the suspects.

"The suspects threw their weapons and improvised bombs in the water when we blocked all their escape routes. Ustadz Anwar is known as Abu Omar, a bomb expert in the group," said Lt. Col. Cabunoc.

“We eased the fear of our people and assured them that safety procedures have been  undertaken and deliberately planned by JTFC giving due concern to the safety of the civilian populace,, JTFC commander Brig. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana said.

“Appropriate coordinations were made with Moro Islamic Libera6ion Front – Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities and the targeted areas were confined to locations far from the local communities.

“I am very determined to defeat these threat groups and prevent them from doing terroristic activities to bring about peace in Central Mindanao. We urge the continued support and cooperation of our people in the communities to hasten the attainment of peace and development. “Let us be partners in preventing and countering the efforts of the radical extremist groups in sowing fear and violence,” said Brig. Gen. Sobejana.

“I am calling the community to be vigilant and committed to peace,” Brig. Gen. Sobejana added.

The Army soldiers hoisted the national flag after defeating the terrorists in their remote marshy hide-out in the Liguasan Marsh.

More killed

At least  five Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) bandits, a local terror group under King Metin of Bungos faction in Maguindanao, were killed in a continuing focused military operation last June 11.

The terrorists were killed in a 35-minutes encounter with the troops of 57th Infantry Battalion at around 8:30 in the evening at Barangay Meta, Datu Unsay, Maguindanao.

A civilian resident relayed an information to the Army that the terrorist group will launch an attack at the Army detachments from any opportune time in retaliation of their setbacks on the continuing pursuit operation in Liguasan Marsh.

This alerted troops and countered the terror plot.

Two body counts identified as Turman Aber and Mansor Mohammad were recovered during clearing operation while the other cadavers identified as Yaser Yusop, Mutin Taliband, and a certain alias Mamalu were were brought by their comrades to be buried in So Lab, Barangay Kuloy, Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao.

Also recovered were M16 rifle, M653 rifle, M203 grenade launcher, magazines, and ammunitions.

Another encounter took place  in Barangay Limpongo, Datu Hoffer of the same province when other BIFF members attacked the military detachment in Barangay Limpongo at around 9:00 p.m.on the same day with no casualties on the government side.

After the exchange of fires, riding in-tandem motorcycle men armed with M16 rifle fired deliberately at a civilian community of the same barangay killing Ricky Udas, a resident in the area.

601st Brigade commander Brig. Gen. Diosdado C. Carreon said the terroristic activities against the military, police, and civilians were pre-empted “due to pro-active measures we have been conducting with the help of the communities that deride conflict and violent extremism.”

"We extend our deepest condolences to the family of the innocent civilian killed in the incident caused by the barbaric acts of the BIFF terror group," said 6th Infantry Division commander Brig. Gen. Cirilito E. Sobejana.

On the other hand, troops of 34th Infantry Battalion under the 602nd Brigade while observing the house of Mando Mamalupong alias DM, BIFF sub-commander under Karialan faction in So. Macantal Barangay Olandang, Midsayap, North Cotabato, weres fired upon by undetermined number of armed group coming from the house of Commander DM that ensued a fire-fight.

Upon searching the area with the Midsayap PNP and Scene of The Crime Operatives (SOCO), the following individuals were found dead: Norman Kanapia, a young BIFF member;  PinidizaTumagantan, father-in-law of commander DM and a logistic provider of the BIFF; and Aida Dalgan, supporter and  sister of commander DMs wife. A certain Abad Tumagantang, a BIFF member, sustained a gunshot wound in his arm and leg while also wounded wasRashid Dalgan Tumagantang.

Also recovered in their positions were one M16 rifle, three hand grenades, one IED, two sets of BDA, one binocular, one cal. 45 pistol, three units of cell phones used for technology exploitation, one unit of tablet, and assorted magazines and ammunitions.

Brig. Gen. Sobejana also said that the continuing military operation is well-coordinated in specific engagement areas to prevent civilians from being affected and harmed.

 ARMM gov't distributes aid

Relief workers distributed  packs to 1,793 families or some 10,000 individuals affected by the June 10 military operation against IS-linked elements of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in Maguindanao.

Myrna Jocelyn Henry, information officer of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao – Humanitarian Emergency Assistance Response Team (ARMM-HEART), said they have initially served three evacuation centers in Pagalungan town where the 1,793 families have been temporarily housed.

“The evacuees are housed in evacuation centers set up at Mahad, the Poblacion market, and the town’s covered court,” she said.

Henry said that ARMM Executive Secretary Laisa Alamia, concurrent regional social welfare chief, led the distribution of relief goods comprising of rice, bread, noodles, mineral water, malong (Muslim tube garment), and hygiene kits that could last for three days.

In Pagalungan alone, at least six villages were affected, namely Buliok, Bago-enged, Dalgan, Bulod, Kalbugan, and Kudal. “Separate ARMM–HEART teams were also dispatched to look into reports of evacuation from the towns of Gen. Salipada K. Pendatun in Maguindanao and Pikit, North Cotabato,” Henry said.

Last June 10,  thousands of evacuees fled to safety as military helicopter gunships, backed by artillery fire, launched a pre-dawn attack on BIFF positions in the marshland bordering the towns of Gen. Salipada K. Pendatun and Pagalungan in Maguindanao and Pikit in North Cotabato.

The miitary said the strikes against the BIFF led to the destruction of a bomb-making factory, death of 15 terrorists and wounding of eight others, as well as the capture of BIFF bomb maker Ustadz Anwar Ali alias "Abu Omar” and his wife Asnaya.

Validating ID of foreigners

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao --- The military here is verifying reports that six of the 15 fatalities killed in the military airstrikes since June 10 against the IS-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) operating in this province were foreigners, an Army official said.

“There were five Indonesians and a Singaporean who are confirmed to be with the terror group and could be among the 15 fatalities,” Brig. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, Army’s 6th Infantry Division commander, told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).

“They were our primary target, and we are still validating their identities,” Sobejana said.

Sobejana said the airstrikes was launched Sunday and Monday after an aerial video confirmed the existence of a BIFF weapon and bomb factory in the middle of Maguindanao’s marshland.

Fifteen members of the BIFF faction under Commander Toraife were killed, eight others injured and two bomb experts arrested.

A soldier of the 33rd Infantry Battalion who was part of the ground assault unit was killed during clashes Monday (June 11) with fleeing BIFF members, the military said.

Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc, the 33rd IB chief, said he and his men had to wade through chest-deep waters of Liguasan Marsh to locate concealed BIFF positions.

Cabunoc said soldiers and police are tracking the BIFF remnants in a bushy area of the marsh.

He said Army informants told him that BIFF sub-leader Salahuddin Hassan alias “Orak” and some foreign jihadists are still trapped (as of this posting) in the area after their boats were destroyed by the airstrikes and artillery bombardment. 

Return home

The Army’s 6th Infantry Division (ID) has issued the green light for the more than 30,000 civilians displaced by recent hostilities in Maguindanao to return home.

“We ask our people to return home now; it is now safe to return to your communities,” Brig. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, 6ID commander, said in a radio interview here Wednesday (June 13).

More than 30,000 individuals have deserted their homes in at least six towns in Maguindanao and in Pikit, North Cotabato after the Army launched a three-day air and ground assaults against IS-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in the boundary of the two provinces.

Sobejana said the operation was coordinated properly with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) because the targeted BIFF areas are near acknowledged MILF communities.

Tim Ambolodto, Maguindanao disaster response unit officer, said about 15,000 civilians were affected in the province alone. For her part, Tahira Kalantongan, disaster officer of Pikit, North Cotabato, said over 10,000 people were displaced from six villages of the municipality near the Liguasan marshland.

At least 24 persons have died, 22 of whom are BIFF members, a civilian and a soldier.

Military airstrikes, artillery fire, and ground troop movements that began on Sunday (June 10) destroyed the strategic strongholds of the BIFF in the Liguasan marsh area, the Army said.

The military’s “surgical” operation destroyed a weapon and bomb-making factory of the terrorists’ south of the marshland. “Very soon, the area will be normalized,” Sobejana said. (ODPA, 6TH ID and Noel Punzalan & Edwin Fernandez, PNA - Cotabato/MINDANAO EXPOSE’)