17 terrorists nabbed; firearms, IEDs seized in Maguindanao del Sur

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Soldiers and policemen together seized powerful improvised explosive devices and six assault rifles and detained 17 local terrorists in an anti-terror operation in Ampatuan, Maguindanao del Sur on Monday, March 17.

Citing a report from the Army’s 90th Infantry Battalion, Major Gen. Donald Gumiran, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, told reporters on Wednesday, March 19, that the firearms and improvised explosive devices were found in the hideout of 17 gunmen in Barangay Kapinpilan in Ampatuan by personnel of the 90th IB and policemen from units of the Maguindanao Provincial Police.

The soldiers and policemen were dispatched to Barangay Kapinpilan after Moro villagers reported the presence of the 17 men in the area, three of them spotted assembling powerful improvised explosive devices using ammonium nitrate as main blasting powder.

Moro leaders in Ampatuan, among them moderate Islamic missionaries overtly against the presence of violent religious extremists in the municipality, had confirmed to reporters that the 17 men are combined members of the Dawlah Islamiya and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

Local officials and traditional Moro leaders in Ampatuan told reporters that the 17 local terrorists yielded peacefully when they sensed that soldiers and policemen had surrounded their hideout, ready to neutralize them if they resisted arrest.

They are now in the joint custody of the 90th IB and the police, undergoing tactical interrogation, according to municipal officials.