Renegade rebels attack army base

From the Manila Bulletin (Jun 28): Renegade rebels attack army base

Renegade elements of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Force (BIFF), the combat arm of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), attacked lately a patrol base of the Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion in Barangay Bagumbayan, President Quirino town in Sultan Kudarat, the Maguindanao-based 6th Infantry Division (6thID) reported yesterday.

6thID spokesman Col. Dickson Hermoso named a certain Zukarno Sapal alias “Diok” as the alleged leader of the BIFF elements that staged the attack on June 21.

“Several hours before the attack, militiaman Vicente Macaraeg of the 9th Sultan Kudarat Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU) Company was shot dead by the same BIFF renegade elements while the victim was driving his motorcycle along the irrigation road in Barangay Bagumbayan to fetch his son to school,” Hermoso said.

Farmer Roy Viola, 40, was also shot dead by the same BIFF elements while on his way to his farm in the same town, the Army official added.

The Army patrol base attackers included Sapal and about 40 followers armed with rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launchers, and homemade 50-caliber sniper rifle, among other high-powered firearms, Hermoso said.

The attack prompted reinforcing soldiers to slug it out with the rebels in an ensuing firefight that lasted for about an hour, said Hermoso, who reported no casualty in the incident.

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