Updated at 2:05 p.m., Feb. 19, 2024
MANILA, Philippines — Six Scout Rangers and three alleged fighters of the Daulah Islamiyah-Maute Group were killed in an encounter in Barangay Ramain in Munai town, Lanao del Sur, Munai on Sunday, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief, Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., said in a statement issued on Monday.
Brawner said that four other soldiers were injured during its continuous pursuit operations against members of the DI-Maute Group, which perpetrated the bombing at Mindanao State University in December 2023, leaving four people dead and 50 others wounded.
“In continuation of this effort, an operation was launched last February 18, resulting in 2 more dead among the enemy and several others wounded based on intelligence information,” Brawner said.
READ: IS-linked Maute terror group on brink of collapse – AFP
“Six of our valiant soldiers paid the ultimate sacrifice while another four were wounded,” Brawner said in a statement.
Maj. Gen. Gabriel Viray III, commander of the 1st Infantry Division, said that the total number of killed Maute fighters climbed to three after another body was recovered.
An earlier report from Lt. Col. Palawan Moindas, spokesperson of the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade, put the number of soldiers killed at five, but another was declared dead on arrival, bringing the total to six.
Moindas said the encounter took place at past 2 p.m. on Sunday in Barangay Ramain. It involved a platoon of soldiers and about 15 members of the DI-Maute Group.
The AFP spokesperson, Col. Francel Margareth Padilla, said 12 Maute Group members were killed in separate pursuit operations after the bombing.
Previously, Padilla said that the DI-Maute Group was on the “brink of collapse.”
The latest encounter brings the total number of fatalities in the Maute group to 15.
The slain soldiers and Maute fighters remain unidentified as of this posting.
Meanwhile, Brawner vowed justice for the killed soldiers.
“I assure their families and every Filipino that justice will be meted and all efforts will be exhausted in pursuit of the enemy,” Brawner said.
“Our troops are motivated to finish the job and accomplish our mission of defeating local terrorist groups once and for all.”