A POLICEMAN and a follower of a former Maimbung, Sulu vice mayor and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) commander were killed while 13 other cops and a soldier were injured in a firefight in the town last Saturday morning.
Soldiers and policemen swooped down on the lair of the former town official, Pando Mudjasan, in Barangay Bualo Lipid in Maimbung at around 7:30 a.m. to serve arrest and search warrants against him.
The arrest warrants were for murder and frustrated murder charges while the search warrants were for illegal possession of firearms, ammunition, and explosives, according to the military.
“Unfortunately, there was resistance from the group of Mudjasan when they (troops) were attempting to enter the area where they were supposed to serve the warrants,” said Armed Forces chief Gen. Andres Centino.
The clash resulted in the death of Pat. Regim Gacod of the 7th Special Action Battalion of the PNP, according to Brig. Gen. Redrico Maranan, chief of the PNP’s Public Information Office.
Thirteen other policemen were also injured — Captain Ergie Wanawan; Corporals Nelvin Roble, Butz Lenard Bakidan, Jayson Cabalquinto, Jerwin Tongala, John Lord Paasa, Simon Ligmayo, Vileo Raven Jariolne, and Alnadzmi Sahirani; Staff Sergeants Julakbar Jahani and Jadier Alfad; and Patrolmen Jasper Massagan and Jason Dacio.
Centino said a soldier from the Army’s 41st Infantry Battalion was also injured, hit by shrapnel from a grenade lobbed by one of Mudjasan’s men.
Maranan said the body of one of the armed men was recovered after the firefight that lasted until 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. Also recovered at the scene were an M14 rifle, four magazines, assorted ammunition, and personal belongings.
