TWO Army intelligence operatives died in an ambush staged by suspected members of the terrorist group Daulah Islamiyah-Maute Group in Lanao del Norte on Wednesday.
The slain staff sergeants were among three soldiers from the 51st Infantry Battalion sent to conduct intelligence operations against the terrorist group in Munai town, said Maj. Gen. Gabriel Viray III, commander of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division.
“They conducted intel gathering, information gathering… While returning (to their base), they were ambushed,” he said.
Viray said the soldiers, aboard two motorcycles and in civilian clothes, were waylaid by at least six members of the terrorist group at around 3 p.m. in Barangay Old Poblacion in Munai.
“Two of them died while the other is safe,” he said adding the families of the fatalities have been informed.
Viray said the Daulah Islamiyah-Maute Group may have sensed the intelligence operations, leading to the ambush.
He also said soldiers have been deployed to conduct pursuit operations against the perpetrators, who he said withdrew northeast after the ambush.
The Daulah Islamiyah-Maute Group is behind a number of atrocities in Mindanao, including the December 3 bombing at the Mindanao State University in Marawi City.
