The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is pursuing around 20 members of terrorist groups in a recent ambush incident in Maguindanao del Sur that led to the death of four soldiers, its spokesperson said Tuesday.

In an interview with ANC, AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said their pursuit operations are still ongoing and they believethe ambush was a retaliation to the military’s operations against terrorist group Dawlah Islamiya.

“This is actually a series of encounters that already occurred since last year. So the military had its gains previously and so this is in retaliation for that. So the ambush occurred two days ago,” Padilla told ANC.

“As of the moment, we are having our pursuit operations in progress. We don’t have the exact number now, since this was an ambush. They are believed to be circling the area but more or less around 20,” she added.

Padilla said the members of Dawlah Islamiya are retaliating because “they are seen to be losing support from the communities because of the continuous operations of the government in the area since last year”.

“They are believed to be dwindling in numbers already and as we have said, they are already having a leadership vacuum as well. That’s why they are already operating in very small groups. But the Army is still circling the area because they are believed to be regrouping their small groups,” Padilla said.

According to Padilla, the four soldiers who were killed in the ambush on Sunday were supposed to buy food at the market to give to feed children for Iftar, a meal eaten by Muslims to break their fast after sunset every day during Ramadan, as part of their civilian-military operations. Jaspearl Tan/DMS