2 terror group members killed in Maguindanao del Sur

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Two members of local terror groups were killed in a clash with soldiers after they opened fire during a routine checkpoint inspection in Barangay Tuka, Mamasapano, Maguindanao del Sur, on Friday, August 29.

Captain Giuseppe Tamayo, spokesperson of the Maguindanao del Sur Provincial Police Office, and officials of the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade told reporters on Saturday, August 30, that motorcycle-riding Muha Gamba and Nasser Akmad died instantly from bullet wounds sustained in a brief gunfight with personnel of the Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion.

Brig. Gen. Jaysen De Guzman, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, and Major Gen. Donald Gumiran, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said soldiers at the checkpoint were forced to neutralize the uncooperative suspects after they pulled out guns and grenades and opened fire.

Local executives in Mamasapano and nearby towns confirmed that Gamba and Akmad were members of both Dawlah Islamiya and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

Policemen and community leaders who responded to the incident recovered .45-caliber pistols, a fragmentation grenade, and an M1 Garand rifle wrapped in cloth and a rice sack beside the cadavers.

The 33rd Infantry Battalion and units of PRO-BAR in Maguindanao del Sur remain on alert for possible retaliation from associates of Gamba and Akmad in both terror groups.