Bomber of Marawi City Catholic worshipers killed in clash

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Soldiers shot dead in an encounter on Saturday, November 15, in Pagayawan, Lanao del Sur in the Bangsamoro region, the main plotter of the deadly bombing of Catholics during a mass inside the gymnasium of a state-run university in Marawi City on Dec. 3, 2023.

The bomb attack left four Catholic worshipers dead and injured 43 others, perpetrated by members of the now-defunct Dawlah Islamiya terror group, among them Najib Laguindab, also known by his alias, Abu Jihad.

Laguindab was killed in a gunfight last Saturday with soldiers from units of the Army’s 1101st Infantry Brigade in Barangay Padas, Pagayawan, during an anti-terror operation supported by local executives and members of the multi-sector Lanao del Sur Provincial Peace and Order Council, chaired by Gov. Mamintal Adiong Jr.

Brig. Gen. Yasser Bara, commander of the 1101st Infantry Brigade, and Brig. Gen. Jaysen De Guzman, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, separately told reporters on Tuesday, November 18, that it was vigilant Maranao villagers and members of the Islamic religious community in Lanao del Sur who reported the exact location of Laguindab’s hideout in Barangay Padas, enabling soldiers to track him down.

Maranao local executives said Laguindab, whom they know as the main plotter of the Dec. 3, 2023 bombing of Catholics during a mass inside the gymnasium of the Mindanao State University in Marawi City, and his followers opened fire at the soldiers approaching their lair in Barangay Padas, provoking a gunfight that resulted in his death and left one soldier wounded.

Bara and officials of the Lanao del Sur Provincial Police Office separately confirmed to reporters that two followers of Laguindab yielded peacefully after the shootout, shocked by his being felled by soldiers with their assault rifles.

Personnel of the 1101st Infantry Brigade found beside Laguindab’s cadaver an M16 assault rifle, a .45-caliber pistol and three improvised explosive devices rigged with blasting contraptions that can be detonated from a distance using mobile phones.