Wanted terrorist bomb maker killed in South Cotabato, authorities say

SOUTH COTABATO, Philippines — Authorities said they shot dead a bomb maker of the Dawlah Islamiya terror group in a brief gunfight in Barangay Lapu in Polomolok on Thursday.

The slain Dawlah Islamiya member, Esmael Sambial, and 15 companions are wanted for acts of terror and other heinous offenses.

Sambial was good at fabricating improvised explosive devices that can be detonated from a distance using a mobile phone, according to Army and police intelligence sources.

A police team was to arrest Sambial and other Dawlah Islamiya members peacefully but the operation went haywire when they resisted and opened fire, provoking a gunfight that resulted in his death.

Sambial's companions scampered away when they sensed that more policemen were closing in, leaving his bullet-riddled cadaver behind.

Sambial was a henchman of Zadee Nilong, leader of a Dawlah Islamiya group tagged in recent deadly bombings in central Mindanao.

The Dawlah Islamiya is connected with the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters whose bastions are in the adjoining North Cotabato and Maguindanao provinces.

Both terror groups are using the flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria as banner and have a reputation for bombing commercial establishments and public conveyances if owners refuse to shell out "protection money."