Military calls off operations against BIFF

From the Philippine News Agency (Jul 8): Military calls off operations against BIFF

Sixth Infantry Division chief Major Gen. Romeo Gapuz on Monday afternoon announced that operations aiming to neutralize members of the "Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters" (BIFF), which conducted a series of attacks in North Cotabato and Maguindanao killing an estimated 86 combatant, were called off due to the impending observance of Ramadan.

"We called off already the operations in view of the Ramadan (as)the clearance given to us by the (GPH-MILF) joint panel is three days only to conduct the law enforcement operations," he added.

"So, we have to abide by that because we don't want to derail the peace process," Gapuz pointed out.

The 6th Infantry Division head made this statement two days after a series of heavy firefights between government forces and the BIFF occurred in North Cotabato and Maguindanao.

Officials earlier placed the number of casualties from Saturday's clashes at 25, with five dead and two wounded in the government side and 18 BIFF men killed in the fight.

But on Monday, Gapuz said 86 combatants - six soldiers and 80 BIFF men, were killed during the heavy fighting.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=542152