COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Updated 4:55 p.m.) — Two suspects in the bombing of a bus in Tacurong City earlier this month and who were reported arrested on Sunday morning have died from gunshot wounds after they shot it out with police, authorities said.
The regional police offices in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region and in Region 12 separately clarified at 4 p.m. Sunday that Haron Akmad Martin and wife Aiman Mandi Martin both perished in the shootout in a district of Cotabato City.
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The November 6 bombing of a Yellow Bus Line bus left a passenger dead and 11 others hurt.
Police Brig Gen. John Guyguyon, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said the operation that led to their arrest was a joint initiative of PRO-BAR and units of the Police Regional Office-12 under Police Brig Gen. Jamili Macaraeg.
Guyguyon said Mandi and Martin both belong to the Dawlah Islamiya terror group and were nabbed after a Sultan Kudarat court issued warrants for their arrest.
Police said the suspects shot at police and military personnel who were approaching their hideout in Purok Pinen in Rosary Heights. They were eventually cornered and arrested by securitry forces.
Barangay officials in Rosary Heights 6 on Sunday afternoon told reporters the bombing suspects died from bullet wounds.
Sources from intelligence units of PRO-BAR and the Army’s 6th Infantry Division told reporters Sunday besides their involvement in the November 6 bombing of a unit of a Yellow Bus Line in Tacurong City, Mandi and Martin are also suspects in the bombing four years ago of the South Seas Mall that left a minor dead and seven others injured.
Senior Army and police intelligence officers said Mandi and Martin also have links to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.