3 hurt as BIFF attacks residential area in North Cotabato

From the Philippine News Agency (Sep 12): 3 hurt as BIFF attacks residential area in North Cotabato

The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters are at it again.

On Wednesday night, three persons were hurt with BIFF rebels fired rifle grenade toward the town proper of Pikit, North Cotabato, the military here said.

Army Capt. Tony Bulao, spokesperson of the Army’s 602nd Brigade, said the bombing was not in any way related to the on-going conflict in Zamboanga City or the reported unusual movement of Moro National Liberation Front.

Police investigators identified the victims in the latest attack by the BIFF as Marcus Esmail, 40, Nhorjana Esmail, 18 and Amirah Usman, 20, sustained shrapnel wounds in different parts of their bodies.

Bulao said the victims were inside a house at Sitio Lamak in the town proper of Pikit when the grenade, fired from a distance using either a vintage M-79 launcher, or an M203 rifle, landed on the roof and exploded at 11 p.m.

The victims are now confined at the Cruzado Hospital, also at the town center of Pikit, which is located in the first district of the province.

Police and military authorities theorized the rifle grenade could be intended for an Army-militia detachment near the house where the grenade landed.

The BIFF, a breakaway faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, had been harassing government forces in Maguindanao and North Cotabato since last year.

It also attacked civilians and public transport using its signature armaments, improvised explosive device with mobile phone as mechanism fashioned from 60 or 81 mm mortars.

Military and police authorities here consider BIFF as lawless and blamed in attacks on Army, civilians and extortion activities in Maguindanao.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=565101