Villager dead, Army agent injured in Maguindanao del Sur attack

COTABATO CITY— A Moro villager was killed and an Army intelligence agent wounded in a gun attack in Barangay Dapantis, Radjah Buayan, Maguindanao del Sur on Sunday, February 2.

Brig. Gen. Romeo Juan Macapaz, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro, confirmed on Monday, February 3, that the attack left Jabber Amil Ambal, a resident of Barangay Dapantis, dead.

Macapaz said Ambal and an intelligence operative from the Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion were together in Barangay Dapantis when motorcycle-riding gunmen approached and shot them with pistols.

Ambal died instantly from gunshot wounds, while the plainclothes Army intelligence operative, who was on a mission, was shot in the left arm and is now hospitalized.

Macapaz said residents of Radjah Buayan are certain that the gunmen behind the atrocity could be members of either the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, or its ally, the Dawlah Islamiya.

In the past 14 months, officials from the 33rd IB and other units of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division have facilitated the surrender of over 300 members from the two now-defunct groups in the province.

Army and police intelligence agents in the province have been actively engaging with members of the two groups, who have expressed interest in returning to the fold of the law and reintegrating into society. This comes despite strong opposition from their leaders, many of whom are wanted for high-profile criminal cases pending in various courts.