Four Dawlah Islamiya-linked Outlaws Killed in BARMM Clash

Four outlaws, all linked to remnants of the now-defunct Dawlah Islamiya terror group, were killed in gunfights while pursuing soldiers and policemen in Barangay Manaulanan in Tugunan town in the Bangsamoro Special Geographic Area on Saturday morning, September 19. Local executives, traditional Moro community leaders, officials of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and the Army’s 6th Infantry Division separately told reporters on Saturday afternoon that the hostilities in Sitio Gawang in Barangay Manaulanan in Tugunan erupted when heavily armed men opened fire at soldiers dispatched to check on reports by villagers about their presence in the area. Barangay officials and members of the Islamic religious community in Tugunan had confirmed that four gunmen, from a group forcibly collecting “protection money” and rice from villagers on a periodic basis, were killed in the ensuing encounters. Tugunan is one of the eight towns in the Bangsamoro Special Geographic, under the regional government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, but is inside the territory of Cotabato province in Region 12. Tugunan Mayor Abdulbayan Abas, chairperson of their multi-sector municipal peace and order council, was quoted in radio reports as saying that the anti-terror operation in Barangay Manaulanan of the Army’s 40th Infantry Battalion of the 602nd Infantry Brigade under 6th ID and units of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous was a legitimate law-enforcement activity, meant to clear the area from lawless groups. Barangay and municipal officials said four bandits were killed one after another by pursuing soldiers and policemen in the ensuing gunfights. A Philippine Air Force attack helicopter fired machine guns at the armed group while exchanging shots with soldiers and policemen, forcing them to scamper away, leaving their dead companions. Villagers in Barangay Manaulanan had evacuated to safe areas, according to local executives.