ZAMBOANGA DEL NORTE – Security forces clashed with gunmen in the remote southern Philippine town of Sirawai in Zamboanga del Norte and officials said soldiers and elite police units were pursuing the group.
Maj. Shellamie Chang, a regional police spokeswoman, said the fighting, which erupted on Monday, January 30, in the village of Doña Cecilia, lasted an hour.
She said members of the 42nd Infantry Battalion and police commandos from the 905th Mobile Company and Regional Mobile Force Battalion engaged the gunmen in fierce clashes.
Chang said the fighting broke out after security forces mounted an operation against the members of the dreaded Lumarang criminal gang. “The operation resulted in an armed encounter between government troops and armed men believed to be members of
Lumarang Criminal Group. The firefight lasted for about one hour with no casualty on the government side,” she said.
She said security forces have been deployed around the village to prevent the gunmen from escaping. “Personnel Sirawai municipal police station and augmented personnel from 2nd Zamboanga del Norte Provincial Mobile Force Company conducted a checkpoint at Doña Cecilia to serve as blocking force,” Chang said, adding police also dispatched intelligence agents to help track down the gang members.
Chang did not say how many gunmen were involved in the clashes or whether they were involved in the January 26 ambush of seven people in the same village. The ambush killed the village chieftain of Balubuan Allie Manangca and his family members - Ani Manangca; Alfahad Manangca, Anisa Jaji Manangca and Shilben Basa. Two others - Alwaf Manangca and Norman Tulino – were wounded in the attack.
The attack occurred ahead of the October 30 Barangay and Sanguniang Kabataan elections. The victims were travelling in a pickup truck when gunmen, hiding behind the bushes on both sides of the dirt road, sprayed them with automatic weapons. (Mindanao Examiner)
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