FOILED BOMBING. The Army’s 602nd Infantry Brigade declared Monday (March 27, 2023) that it has foiled bombing plots by a Daesh-inspired Dawlah Islamiya (DI) terror group operating in Central Mindanao with the recovery of eight homemade bombs in the ongoing weeklong operation in the border of North Cotabato and Maguindanao del Sur provinces. Five DI members were also confirmed dead so far in the military operations at the vast marshland between the two provinces. (Photo courtesy of Army’s 6th Infantry Division)
CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao del Norte – Military authorities here said it foiled bombing plots by Dawlah Islamiya (DI)-Hassan group members with the recovery of eight improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and death of five terrorist groups in Maguindanao del Sur.
The focused military operations include the deployment of the Army’s 155-mm Autonomous Truck Mounted Howitzers Systems (ATMOS) to pursue the 30-man terror group massing in the borders of Pagalungan and Datu Montawal towns in Maguindanao del Sur, said Col. Donald Gumiran, head of the Army’s 602nd Infantry Brigade based in Carmen, North Cotabato.
Gumiran said the Daesh-inspired Hassan group was plotting to set off IEDs in the province, and adjacent Maguindanao del Sur at the start of the Ramadan fasting period.
“Our intelligence information has confirmed that the DI Hassan group, led by Almoben Sebod, were camping in Barangay Dalgan in Pagalungan town and plotting to launch bomb attacks on civilian areas,” he said, citing military intelligence reports.
After verifying the information, Gumiran said the military launched simultaneous, air, ground, and artillery (ATMOS) attacks in Barangay Dalgan before dawn on March 22.
Gumiran said the predawn offensive was followed by sporadic skirmishes between ground troops and local terrorists in the Maguindanao marshland.
Aside from the fatalities, soldiers also arrested one DI member and recovered from him a .45 caliber pistol and bomb-making components.
“We thwarted their plot to bomb civilian areas during the fasting month of Ramadan,” Gumiran said, adding that he ordered the termination of the operation on Sunday to allow the return of civilians who fled their homes.
Mayor Salik Mamasabulod of Pagalungan, Maguindanao del Sur, about 700 families evacuated to safer grounds and are temporarily housed in Dalgan Elementary School and nearby areas.
Gumiran said pursuit operations against the DI Hassan group would continue even during the Ramadan period. (PNA)
