MILF commander, 2 others killed in Sultan Kudarat police ops

SULTAN KUDARAT, Philippines — A commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and two others were killed in separate police operations in Lambayong, Sultan Kudarat province before dawn Saturday.

The first to fall was Randy Kamid, leader of a band of MILF guerillas in Lambayong, a secluded town in Sultan Kudarat.

A police team was to peacefully search Kamid’s hideout for drugs and unlicensed guns but he resisted, sparking a brief encounter.

Kamid was a commander in the MILF, which has a current peace process with Malacañang.

The two other fatalities, Yusof Mukalam and Jaime Silongan, were killed inside their houses when they opened fire at policemen approaching from different directions.

Superintendent Aldrin Gonzalez, spokesman of the Regional Police Office-12, said the raiding teams were armed with warrants to search their homes from Judge Alandrex Betoya of central Mindanao’s Regional Trial Court Branch 16.

Gonzalez said the raids were carried out after neighbors reported to the Lambayong municipal police that all three men were peddling methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) and keeping loose firearms.