COTABATO CITY — Combined Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and Dawlah Islamiya gunmen attacked a roadside police detachment in Datu Salibo town, Maguindanao del Sur late Sunday, wounding three police officers and sending villagers into panic.
Community elders and officials of Barangay Pagatin, where the incident happened, confirmed to reporters on Tuesday the identity of at least four of the attackers and their association with the two terrorist groups. They said two of the terrorists, armed with M-16 and M14 rifles, were wounded when police returned fire.
In a Viber message to reporters Monday night, Brig. Gen. Allan C. Nobleza, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said the wounded cops — Corporal Fernan D. Andres and Patrolmen Abdul Ali B. Lipuas and Alesona A. Makaandig, all of the 1402nd Regional Mobile Force Company — were being treated for bullet wounds in the body at an undisclosed hospital.
Army Major Gen. Alex S. Rillera, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the attack was a ploy aimed at creating the impression that the Dawlah Islamiya and the BIFF have not been weakened, following the surrender in batches of 326 of their members since 2020. — John Felix M. Unson
