COTABATO CITY— – The suspect in the December 31, 2018 mall bombing was killed in a course of a police operations, said the Philippine National Police.
Police operatives here neutralized Abraham Abdulrahman alias Abu Suffian in a pre-dawn operation in Bagua district, this city.
Major Esmael Madin, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group claimed Abdulrahman was one of the perpetrators of the Dec. 31, 2018 bombing in front of Southseas Mall that left two dead and nearly 30 persons hurt, according to Major Esmael Madin.
Madin said police agents were to serve warrants against Abdulrahman in his hideout in Barangay Bagua 2, Cotabato City when he resisted arrest by firing at lawmen.
“Abdulrahman was surprised lawmen have entered his hideout so he pulled a pistol under his pillow and fired at lawmen who returned fire,” Madin said of the 1:30 a.m. law enforcement operation.
Madin said CIDG operatives were in the area to serve a search warrant issued by Judge Allan Edwin Boncavil of the 12th Judicial RTC Branch 19 in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat, against Jasmiya Camsa Ibrahim, an alleged cohort of Abdulrahman, for violation of Republic Act 10591, or the Comprehensive Law on Firearms and Ammunition Act.
“We were after Ibrahim but he managed to escape,” Madin said in a statement adding that police found a .45-caliber pistol, a hand grenade, and bomb-making components, and other evidence, beside the slain Abdulrahman.
His remains were taken by his relatives and immediately buried according to Islamic rites.
Madin said manhunt against Ibrahim continues.-Edwin O. Fernandez
