Bangsamoro police and military updates

Investigators are still clueless on the near fatal ambush Thursday of a public school teacher in Datu Anggal Midtimbang town in Maguindanao del Sur.

Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, tells reporters Saturday probers have enlisted the help of local officials in identifying the ambushers of Israel Paguital.

Paguital was seriously wounded in the attack. — The STAR/John Unson

Authorities say four more members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters trained in fabrication of improvised explosive devices surrendered to the Army Friday.

They first turned in two .30 caliber Garand rifles, an M14 rifle, a bolt-action sniper rifle and explosives before they renounced their membership with the BIFF during a simple surrender rite at Camp Leono in Barangay Kalandagan in Tacurong City.

Major Gen. Alex Rillera, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, says Saturday the four men agreed to return to the fold of law through the intercession of the 1st Mechanized Infantry Brigade and local officials in central Mindanao’s adjoining Maguindanao del Sur and Sultan Kudarat provinces. — The STAR/John Unson 

Authorities say gunmen wounded an Army K-9 handler in an ambush in Lamitan City, Basilan Wednesday.

In a statement Thursday, the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region identified the victim as Pvt. Jimmy Danao Gaffud, who belongs to an Army K-9 unit based in Zamboanga City.

In a report to PRO-BAR, Lt. Col. Arlan Delumpines, Lamitan City police chief, said Gaffud and a companion, Sgt. Ronnie Ubalde, were attacked while together riding a motorcycle in Barangay Campo Uno, on their way to the city pier.  — The STAR/John Unson

The detained former chief of the Bangsamoro regional police has denied the separate syndicated estafa charges filed against him in two different Quezon City courts.

Police Brig. Gen. John Guyguyon immediately got relieved as director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region after agents of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group served him two warrants of arrest Wednesday night at his office in Camp SK Pendatun in Parang, Maguindanao del Norte.

“My name was just dragged into that issue. I unduly tangled with it as an `incorporator’ and had no hand in any monetary collection whatsoever,” Guyguyon told reporters here late Wednesday. — The STAR/John Unson

Authorities say alleged members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters killed in an ambush Friday in Maguindanao del Sur two companions suspected of spying for the police and military.

Kamad Tangkile and Hamad Tangkile, a minor, were riding a motorcycle together when men positioned along a road in Barangay Pamalian in Shariff Saidona Mustapha town in Maguindanao del Sur shot them with assault rifles.

The local police, in a report Saturday to the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, say the victims were members of the outlawed BIFF, fashioned from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and tagged in all bombings in central Mindanao since 2014. — The STAR/John Unson

 Members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters killed a soldier and wounded another in an attack on Wednesday morning in Barangay Libutan in Mamasapano, Maguindanao del Sur.

Police Brig. Gen. John Guyguyon, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, identified the fatality as Pfc. Jorey Abibas of the Army’s 23rd Mechanized Company.

Abibas died from multiple bullet wounds sustained in the attack that also left his companion, Pfc. Jonathan Nacion, badly wounded. — The STAR/John Unson

A motorist was killed while two others, one of them a police sergeant, were wounded in separate gun attacks here and in nearby Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte Sunday.

Maj. Amil Andungan, commander of the Cotabato City Police Precinct 2, said Monday gunmen killed the motorcycle-riding Abdulazis Butukan, 28, and wounded his companion, the 19-year-old Not Tayuan, while motoring through a thoroughfare in Barangay Rosary Heights 4 here early Sunday.

Relatives of the victims told reporters they both have shady personas and have enemies in the village here where they reside.

The duo's motorcycle was bereft of a license plate, according to investigators. — The STAR/John Unson

Two were burned alive when a container filled with gasoline in a tricycle burst into flame while in motion in a so unusual incident Wednesday in Cotabato province.

The cadaver of Josefa Cantire of Barangay Kabucalan, Matalam was charred beyond recognition while his live-in partner, Mario Sorongon, died in a hospital from third degree burns.

Personnel of the Bureau of Fire Protection in the municipality and the Matalam Municipal Police Station separately told reporters Friday that the tricycle driver Sorongon and Cantire were on their way home when the highly-combustible fuel in a supposedly sealed container behind them went aflame for still unknown reason.

Citing accounts of witnesses, police probers said Sorongon panicked, lost control of his tricycle that hit a tree along the road and flipped, causing a splash all over of the gasoline they were to deliver somewhere.

-- The STAR/John Unson

Gunmen killed a barangay chairman in Maguindanao del Sur and shot with assault rifles the house of another in Maguindanao del Norte in separate attacks in two days.

Hadji Basit Zangkala was at a busy spot in the town proper of Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao del Sur when he was repeatedly shot by men armed with .45 caliber pistols Tuesday.

Zangkala was chairman of Barangay Labo-Labo 2 in Datu Hoffer, Maguindanao del Sur, less than three kilometers from the spot where he was gunned down.

Police Maj. Haron Macabanding, chief of the Shariff Aguak municipal police, told reporters Wednesday Zangkala was declared dead on arrival by attending physicians at a nearby hospital where he was rushed by responding policemen for treatment.

Zangkala was killed just three days after heavily armed men shot with assault rifles on Monday night the house of Guiabar Dalinding, chairman of Barangay Simuay in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte.

— The STAR/John Unson

Follow this thread for updates from police and military units in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.