6th ID combatants drive away gunmen from 2 Maguindanao del Norte villages

COTABATO CITY— Soldiers cleared two barangays in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte from marauding gunmen and seized nine military-type firearms in separate anti-terror operations in just four days.

Combatants from units of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division confiscated on Sunday a .45 caliber Thompson submachinegun, 12 gauge Akkar shotgun, an M1 Garand rifle, an M14 rifle and two M16 rifles found in an abandoned shanty in Sitio Kabatayan, Barangay Labungan in Datu Odin Sinsuat.

The Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade, in a report to 6th ID on Tuesday, said that the firearms are from gunmen who harassed an enclave of non-Moro ethnic Tedurays in Sitio Kabatayan two days before.

Personnel of different units under 6th ID, the Maguindanao del Norte provincial police and members of the Datu Odin Sinsuat Municipal Police Station initiated the clearing operation in Sitio Kabatayan that resulted in the confiscation of the firearms. These were left by the men who attacked the area when they sensed that policemen and soldiers were closing in.

Major Gen. Alex Rillera, commander of 6th ID, said on Tuesday that they along with local officials,  facilitated the return of dozens of Teduray families that fled from Sitio Kabatayan that armed men plundered early this week.

The clearing operation in Sitio Kabatayan in Barangay Labungan was preceded by the recovery by personnel of the Army’s 2nd Mechanized Infantry Battalion last weekend of two M16 assault rifles, a grenade launcher and a .30 caliber machinegun in  Barangay Kakar, also in Datu Odin Sinsuat.

The firearms and the crew-served .30 caliber machinegun were also left behind by the men who attacked Barangay Kakar, according to local officials.

Residents of Barangay Kakar were thrice harassed by an armed group earlier.