One of two Cotabato grenade attack suspects neutralized in police operation

COTABATO CITY — Police killed one of the two men linked to the grenade attack that injured 22 New Year revelers in Barangay Dalapitan, Matalam town, Cotabato province, during a shootout late Thursday, January 1.

The victims, including elementary pupils and high school students, were gathered at a spot in Barangay Dalapitan lighting firecrackers and pyrotechnics when Hammad Ansa, who was later killed, approached on a motorcycle driven by an accomplice, threw a fragmentation grenade and fled as the explosion hit the area.

Acting on tips from villagers, police officers from the Matalam Municipal Police Station and other units of Police Regional Office 12 located Ansa on Thursday night in Barangay Kilada, Matalam, Cotabato province.

Local officials said Ansa did not surrender and instead drew a .45-caliber pistol and fired at approaching police officers from two directions, triggering a brief exchange that resulted in his death.

Lt. Col. Arniel Melocotones, Matalam municipal police chief, on Friday, January 2, said that Ansa was declared dead on arrival by doctors at a hospital where he was brought by local government emergency responders for treatment.

Local officials and Police Brig. Gen. Arnold Ardiente, director of Police Regional Office 12, separately told reporters on Friday that villagers and traditional Moro leaders in Matalam, who were aware of Ansa’s involvement in the midnight grenade attack that wounded 22 residents, guided police to his exact location in Purok 6, Barangay Kilada.

Ardiente and Cotabato’s provincial police director, Col. Jerson Birrey, expressed gratitude to Moro community leaders and members of the multi-sector Matalam Municipal Peace and Order Council for guiding police operatives from various units to Ansa’s hideout.

Meanwhile, intelligence teams from the Army’s 602nd Infantry Brigade are assisting police and local officials in tracking Ansa’s accomplice, who reportedly fled to a remote area near the Ligawasan Delta in Cotabato.

Moro leaders in Cotabato’s neighboring towns of Matalam, Kabacan and Pikit told reporters on Friday that Ansa was a large-scale shabu dealer who reportedly shared portions of his earnings with the few remaining leaders of the now-defunct Dawlah Islamiya and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.