3 dead, 4 hurt in Maguindanao del Sur ambush

COTABATO CITY— Three members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) were killed and four others injured in an ambush by a rival MILF faction in Barangay Linantangan, Shariff Saydona Mustapha, Maguindanao del Sur, on Sunday, August 10.

Senior officials of the Maguindanao Provincial Police Office and the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region told reporters on Monday, August 11, that the incident caused panic among residents of Barangay Linantangan and the students inside classrooms in an Islamic school close to the area where both sides, armed with combat rifles, traded shots.

Local executives and members of the multi-sector Shariff Saydona Mustapha Municipal Peace and Order Council reported that the clashes involved the groups of Commander Malimbuteng and Zainudin Kairo, both from the 128th MILF Base Command, and their rivals Kagui Gani Adam, Esmail Salim and Tuhami Mamulintao.

The group of Commander Malimbuteng and Kairo was traveling in three minivans to Barangay Pembalkan in nearby Mamasapano, Maguindanao del Sur, when they were ambushed by gunmen from the MILF’s 118th Base Command, led by Adam, Salim and Mamulintao.

According to municipal officials, three passengers in the minivans were shot with M16 and M14 rifles and died instantly from their wounds during the attack.

Traditional Moro community leaders and Barangay Officials in Shariff Saydona Mustapha had told reporters that four others were wounded in the incident. 

The MILF members who shot the three vehicles with assault rifles managed to escape before responding policemen and soldiers could reach the scene.

The commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, Major Gen. Donald Gumiran, and Brig. Gen. Jaysen De Guzman, had sent emissaries to help local executives in Shariff Saydona Mustapha and MILF leaders in the municipality reposition the two enemy groups away from each other.

Leaders of the two enemy MILF groups are locked in a deep-seated animosity triggered by squabbles for control of territories and long-standing political disputes escalated by their having supported rival candidates during the May 12 elections.