Troops search for suspects in killing 2 Maguindanao frontliners

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — The Army’s 6th Infantry Division is now trying to locate the Dawlah Islamiya bandits who killed Sunday night two soldiers enforcing quarantine regulations.

Privates 1st Class Jermie Ombiang and Vicente Gata of the Army’s 57th Infantry Battalion, died from multiple bullet wounds.

They were in a team guarding Barangay Talibadok, a hinterland area in Datu Hoffer when Dawlah Islamiya gunmen attacked them from different directions, sparking a brief gunfight.

Major Gen. Diosdado Carreon, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, has condemned the incident.

He said the slain soldiers were frontliners helping enforce the COVID-19 containment efforts of local officials in Datu Hoffer.

A soldier wounded in the encounter is now confined in a hospital. 

Carreon said Army intelligence units have enlisted the support of barangay elders in identifying the Dawlah Islamiya bandits responsible for the deaths of Ombiang and Gata.

The Dawlah Islamiya, also known as the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, operates in the fashion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.