Villagers evacuated from two Clarin barangays

An undetermined number of residents of the villages of Nahawan and Bacani in the town of Clarin in Bohol were evacuated by the municipal government amid a fierce firefight in Bacani between government troops and members of the Abu Sayyaf Group.

SPO4 Romel Petecio, the deputy chief of the Clarin police, said personnel from the municipality came with several vehicles to take the civilians out of the area lest they will get caught in the crossfire.

Authorities also barred private vehicles form entering Barangay Nahawan and they were seen fleeing towards this village from Barangay Bacani, where the firefight originated and still raging.

The municipal government of Inabanga, through their Facebook page, asked all motorists coming from the town of Talibon and are bound for Tagbilaran City via Inabanga not to proceed and instead stay within Barangay Sto. Rosario as they could be hijacked and taken as human shields by the bandit group.

The ASG members now battling with government troops are believed to the eight men who were able to escape from the April 11 seige in Barangay Napo, Inabanga.

Between ten to a dozen ASG members reported to be on a kidnapping and terror missions in Central Visayas landed in Bohol on board motorized bancas via the Inabanga River on April 10.

Responding policemen and soldiers engaged the terror group in a firefight the following day, killing four ASG members, including their leader Muammar Askali alias Abu Rami.

Two local residents, three soldiers and policemen were also killed in the battle.

Eight ASG members, including Inabanga resident Joselito Melloria, a Muslim convert who had reportedly taken the alias Alih and had joined the bandit group, managed to escape.

Police and military authorities have still to confirm various reports on radio and social media that Melloria was among those killed in the Clarin firefight.