AFP: 9 Dawlah Islamiyah gunmen slain in Maguindanao battle

The military’s ATMOS 155mm caliber self-propelled artillery truck maneuvers after strikes in the Maguindanao marshland on Thursday, Dec. 7. (Photo from DXND Radyo Bida Kidapawan)

CARMEN, Cotabato — Nine Dawlah Islamiyah (DI) gunmen were killed in air and ground assaults launched by the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade in Maguindanao marshland, the military in this town said on Friday.

“The operation is continuing, our ground troops are still in the area for clearing operations until today,” said Captain Dexter Ruma, civil military operations chief of the brigade.

Ruma said the nine DI fatalities belonged to its Hassan faction, adding that 10 others were believed injured.

“We listed about nine DI fatalities,” Ruma said in a radio interview on Friday, citing information from ground troops and village officials.

The artillery strikes were launched toward the boundaries of Maguindanao del Sur and Cotabato provinces.

Ruma said about 100 families in Barangay Dalgan in Pagalungan town, Maguindanao del Sur have fled to safer grounds and were being attended to by the local government.

About 100 families fled their marshland communities after the Army launched air and ground assaults against Dawlah Islamiyah. (Photo from DXND Radyo Bida Kidapawan)

The Army used its Israeli-made Autonomous Truck Mounted Howitzer System (ATMOS) for the artillery strikes in the offensives that began at 4 a.m. on Thursday.

Ruma said no civilians were hurt during the operation that was carried out immediately after intelligence information confirmed the DI members were massing in the marshland community.

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