3 terrorists hurt, 21 detained in Cotabato gunfight

COTABATO CITY — Soldiers have detained 21 members of a local terror group following a brief encounter in Barangay Bagolibas, Aleosan, Cotabato, which left three terrorists wounded on Thursday, October 24.

The 24 members of a local terror group were on board two vehicles intercepted by personnel of the 34 Infantry Battalion while on their way to an interior area in Barangay Pagangan in Aleosan and opened fire when they were flagged for inspection, provoking a gunfight.

Army Major Gen. Antonio Nafarrete, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, told reporters on Friday that three from the group were wounded in the ensuing encounter that waned after their 21 companions turned themselves in when they sensed that they had been surrounded by personnel of the 34th IB .

A member of the 34th IB, Cpl. Roy Villaber, was also wounded in the incident, according to Nafarrete.

It was municipal officials and barangay leaders in Aleosan who alerted the 34th IB about the group’s supposed travel to Sitio Tubak in Pagangan to attack companions reportedly planning to surrender to the 6th ID for them to get reintegrated into mainstream society.

Soldiers had seized five M16 rifles, two M14 rifles, a fragmentation grenade and components for improvised explosive devices from the 21 combined members of the Dawlah Islamiya and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters now in the custody of the 34th IB.

Nafarrete said he has directed the commanding officer of the 34th IB, Lt. Col. Edgardo Batinay, to turn over the 21 terrorists to the local police and help investigators build corresponding criminal cases against them.