Soldiers seize combat weapons in Maguindanao del Sur operation – BusinessWorld Online
COTABATO CITY — Soldiers seized three combat weapons and explosives in an anti-terror operation in Shariff Saydona Mustapha, Maguindanao del Sur on Sunday.
The long-range .30 caliber bolt-action sniper rifle, an M1 Garand rifle, a B40-anti-tank rocket launcher, and five rifle-propelled grenades were abandoned by gunmen after a brief clash with personnel of the Army’s 6th IB in a secluded area in Barangay Pagatin.
The Army’s 6th Infantry Division Commander Donald D. Gumiran told reporters on Tuesday that the encounter erupted when a group of local terrorists opened fire at soldiers patrolling near their location.
The personnel of the 6th IB, who were attacked, were dispatched to a farming enclave in Barangay Pagatin after villagers reported the presence of heavily armed men, collecting money and rice from farmers at gunpoint.
Traditional Moro leaders had said that the terrorists fled when they ran out of ammunition, leaving behind some of their combat weapons, now in the custody of the 6th IB. — John Felix M. Unson
