2 local terrorists wanted for crimes killed in South Cotabato gunfight

COTABATO CITY— Two more members of the Dawlah Islamiya, wanted for high-profile crimes, died in a brief clash with soldiers and policemen who tried to peacefully arrest them in Barangay Talcon in T’boli town in South Cotabato on Tuesday.

In separate reports on Thursday, the Army’s 5th Special Forces Battalion under the Army's 6th Infantry Division and the South Cotabato Provincial Police identified the fatalities as Yasser Catacutan and Eizar Emam, long-wanted for high-profile criminal crimes pending in different courts.

Local officials told reporters on Thursday that the duo belonged to the Dawlah Islamiya, which has a reputation for bombing business establishments and passenger vehicles if owners refuse to pay "protection money" on a monthly basis.

A team of soldiers from the 5th SFB and policemen were about to serve Catacutan and Emam warrants for their arrest in their hideout in T'boli town's secluded Barangay Talcon, but one of them pulled out a pistol and opened fire, provoking a gunfight that resulted in their deaths.

Sources from different municipal peace and order councils in South Cotabato told reporters that Catacutan and Emam were also tagged in the burning of heavy equipment of construction firms that did not give in to the Dawlah Islamiya's extortion attempts.

The soldiers and policemen who tried to peacefully arrest Catacutan and Emam found beside their cadavers a .45 caliber pistol and a sling bag full of components for improvised explosive devices.