Clash erupts in Lanao Norte anew

By Froilan Gallardo
Special Correspondent

A week-long running gun battle between Army soldiers and the ISIS-inspired Dawlah Islamiyah displaced more than 2,000 residents in the hinterland town of Tangcal in Lanao del Norte, officials said yesterday.

Brig. Gen. Jose Maria Cuerpo, commander of the 103 Infantry Brigade said soldiers from the 51st Infantry Battalion engaged 30 militants led by Faharudin Hadji Satar (also known as Abu Bakar of Abu Zacaria), the leader of the Dawlah Islamiyah-Maute group since August 15.

Cuerpo said a 40-year-old soldier succumbed to a heart attack during the grueling one-week running gun battle in the rugged mountain terrain of Lanao del Sur.

He said the fighting started in Madalum town in Lanao del Sur after residents reported the presence of the armed militants while some of the soldiers were giving a lecture on violent extremism in the plaza.

“We immediately made a plan using all our available assets like the artillery and drones,” Cuerpo said.

He said the militants fled engaging the soldiers in several fierce encounters in Madalum until they the town of Tangcal in Lanao del Norte, a distance of 30 kilometers.

Tangcal municipal disaster risk reduction management officer Henry Nadela said more than 406 families or 2,000 individuals from barangays Pelingkingan and Lindongan fled after hearing mortars being fired and helicopter gunships hovering over their rooftops.

Nadela said one house in Barangay Pelingkingan was hit on the roof by a mortar round.

“The residents were frightened when they heard the helicopters came and hovered on top of their roofs,” Nadela said.

A report from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said the evacuees have sought refuge at the Bayabao Multipurpose Building and a gym in the poblacion of Tangcal town.

According to the UNCHR report, the municipal government of Tangcal had distributed relief goods to the displaced families.