CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews / 25 October) – Five suspected members of the Islamic State-linked Dawlah Islamiyah were killed when they allegedly resisted arrest by the police and soldiers in Sultan Naga Dimaporo town, Lanao del Norte around 1 a.m. last Wednesday.
Around a hundred soldiers and PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Region 9 personnel raided the house in Barangay Bangco where the suspects slept, according to Police Master Sergeant Macoi Ongco of the Sultan Naga Dimaporo police station.
“The suspects resisted and opened fire at the soldiers and policemen. The shooting ended after 15 minutes,” Ongco said.
Brigadier General Jaysen De Guzman, PNP-10 Regional Director said five of the alleged DI members were killed while two others, including the owner of the house identified as Bucari, were arrested.
De Guzman said four M16 and three M1 Garand rifles and two grenades were found at Bucari’s house.
He said the DI leader identified as Uya Duma or “Lagbas,” who had arrest warrants for kidnapping, was the target of the police operation in cooperation with the 5thMechanized Infantry Battalion.
The location where the alleged terrorists were hiding was where the kidnappers of Italian missionary Giancarlo Bossi hid the priest in 2007.
Ongco said Bucari told police that Duma was a relative who came with the others and stayed in his house beside the rice field more than a year ago. (Froilan Gallardo/MindaNews)
