Muslim preachers condemn ambush of soldiers amid Ramadhan

COTABATO CITY — Muslim clerics and Moro datus have urged their local government units, the police and military to unite against the few remaining members of two allied terrorist groups behind Sunday’s fatal ambush of four soldiers in Datu Hoffer, Maguindanao del Sur.

Privates Marvin Dumaguing and Jessie James Corpuz, Private 1st Class Carl Araña and Cpl. Creszaldy Espertero of the 40th Infantry Battalion of the 6th Infantry Division died on the spot from multiple bullet wounds and were finished off by their attackers with rifle shots in their heads before they fled.

Col. Roel Sermese, director of the Maguindanao provincial police and 6th ID’s commander, Army Major Gen. Alex Rillera, separately told reporters on Monday that the four soldiers were on their way to their command post from a marketing mission for their supposed preparation of an iftar or the first meal after a day-long fast for some 50 Moro families observing Ramadhan, when members of the Dawlah Islamiya and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters attacked them from one side of the road in Barangay Tuayan 1 in Datu Hofer.

Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, Muslim preachers actively supporting Malacañang’s peace overtures with the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front told reporters on Monday morning that they want the Dawlah Islamiya and the BIFF neutralized for good for causing the Muslim communities in central Mindanao embarrassment for wanton acts of terror that demean Islam, which means peace. 

A 59-year-old Muslim cleric said that the Dawlah Islamiya and the BIFF are engaged in activities that are in total contrast with Islamic teachings on ecumenism, or interfaith unity, and on obligatory reciprocation with state peace initiatives.

“These few remaining armed men are also apparently trying to sabotage the peace process between the government and the Moro people in Mindanao which is now obviously gaining headway,” said one of the preachers.

The deadly ambush on Sunday in Datu Hofer was perpetrated on the sixth day of Ramadhan, a holy month in Islam based on the lunar Hijrah calendar, where Muslims fast from dawn to dusk for one lunar cycle as a religious obligation, a form of sacrifice and reparation for wrongdoings.

"These terrorists are not Muslims," said a 41-year-old female teacher handling Islamic theology lessons in a government school in Shariff Aguak town near Datu Hoffer.

Self-styled leaders of the BIFF had told reporters via text message that the ambush of the four soldiers was a retaliation for the death of 26 followers in separate Army operations in Maguindanao del Sur and in Sultan Kudarat provinces in the past 24 months.

Traditional community elders in Maguindanao’s joining Datu Hoffer, Datu Saudi Ampatuan and Shariff Aguak towns said that members of the Dawlah Islamiya were the principal perpetrator of the atrocity, backed by some BIFF terrorists.

Units of 6th ID killed 19 Dawlah Islamiya terrorists in a series of clashes in the past nine months, records from the Maguindanao del Sur Provincial Police Office and the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region indicated.

“We have tightened security in areas under our jurisdiction to prevent a repeat of Sunday’s bloody incident in Datu Hoffer,” Rillera said.

The group that ambushed the four soldiers took their service firearms with them as they escaped.