CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao, Philippines – The police and military yesterday tightened security in Central Mindanao to check possible retaliations by companions of a foreign-trained bomber gunned down by government operatives in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao on Thursday.
Chief Superintendent Felicisimu Khu, director of the Region 12 police, said they have been receiving persistent feedbacks from local officials and Muslim religious leaders that comrades of the suspect, Edris Sabal, are out to avenge his death in the hands of soldiers and policemen that attempted to serve him a warrant for his arrest.
“We are imposing tight security measures to prevent any retaliation by the group where he belongs,” Khu said.
Sabal was implicated in more than a dozen bombings in the cities of Gen. Santos, Koronadal and Tacurong between 2002 to 2004, according to Khu.
Authorities want the joint ceasefire committee to investigate on how Sabal managed to hide for a long time near the biggest enclave of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Sultan Kudarat. Sabal was said to have undergone training in handling of explosives and fabrication of improvised bombs at Kandahar in Afganistan during the 1990s.
A soldier, Sgt. Romy Apostol of the Army’s anti-crime Task Force Tugis, was killed while a policeman, PO1 Manuelito Lesmoras, was wounded when Sabal opened fire on a team that tried to serve him a warrant for his arrest at his hideout in Simuay District in Sultan Kudarat, about two kilometers away from Camp Darapanan, the main headquarters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
The government and the MILF are bound by preliminary security agreements to mutually cooperate in the interdiction of criminals in areas covered by the General Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities on both sides crafted in July 1997 in Cagayan de Oro City.
Senior Superintendent Willie Dangane, director of the Cotabato City police, said Sabal and his companions opened fire first at the soldiers and police that tried to surround their hideout in Simuay area in Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao, provoking a gunbattle.
Sabal is wanted for multiple murders and his alleged involvement in a spate of bombings in Central Mindanao in recent years.
Sabal’s wife was wounded in the encounter.
Dangane said Sabal’s companions escaped to different directions when they saw him felled with assault rifles by advancing policemen.
“We are hoping the joint ceasefire committee can help us investigate how come the suspect managed to put up a hideout in an area covered by the ceasefire,” Dangane said.
He said Sabal’s presence in Sultan Kudarat was first detected by Muslim religious leaders, who immediately reported to the city police his exact whereabouts.
Lt. Col, Benjamin Hao, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said they have lowered the Philippine flag to half mast inside Camp Siongco in Datu Odin, Maguindanao to show they are mourning the death of Apostol, an operative of the 6th ID’s anti-crime Task Force Tugis.
“We are also contemplating on asking the joint ceasefire committee to help us find the companions of Sabal who was killed when he resisted arrest last Thursday in Sultan Kudarat, which is covered by the GRP-MILF ceasefire accord,” Hao said. - By John Unson
