INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
TACURONG CITY — Police killed a subleader of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) allegedly behind the murder of a police lieutenant in Maguindanao and the bombings in the provinces of Cotabato, Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat in the previous years.
Lt. Col. Bryan Bernardino, Tacurong City police director, said Abdulkarem Lumbatan Hashim also known as “Commander Boy Jacket ” and his companion were killed in a police shootout inside the bus terminal in Barangay New Isabela here at 6 a.m. after they resisted arrest.
“They refused to undergo inspection at a checkpoint and fired at our law enforcers, triggering a shootout,” Bernardino said.
Three police officers were injured.
Police said Hashim and companions resisted inspection at the terminal checkpoint. Two other companions on board a separate motorbike managed to escape during the shootout.
Police identified Hashim as a sub-commander of BIFF “Kagi Karialan” faction involved in a series of bombing, highway robberies and extortion in the provinces of Maguindanao, Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat. He was also tagged as the brain behind the murder of Police Lt. Reynaldo Samson, police chief of Ampatuan municipal police station in Maguindanao, and Samson’s driver on August 29 last year.
In October last year, Hashim reportedly led an attack at an Army checkpoint in Barangay Sambolawan, Datu Salibo, Maguindanao.
His group was also behind the harassment of another Army base in Datu Hofer town in Maguindanao in November last year.
Hashim has several warrants of arrest for murder and frustrated murder issued by local courts in Maguindanao.
Bernardino said the injured police officers were already safe.