5 dead, 17 injured in rebel raids

From the Manila Standard Today (Nov 18): 5 dead, 17 injured in rebel raids

At least four rebels and a student were killed and 16 other students and a soldier were wounded in separate rebel attacks in Maguindanao and North Cotabato on Sunday, a military official said.

Brig. Gen. Edmund Pangilinan, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the four rebels were killed when the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) attacked a military outpost and was repulsed in Rajah Buayan in Maguindanao.

Pangilinan said the rebels opened fire with mortars and assault rifles but the soldiers fought back with the support of pro-government forces belonging to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The BIFF rebels were led by Mohiden Animbang, alias Commander Karialan, Pangilinan said.

The identity of the wounded soldier was withheld pending notification of his next of kin. No casualties were reported in the MILF.

The fighting forced about 150 families to fled their homes. The attack was the fourth since last week when the rebels fired mortar shells on government posts and nearby communities.

In Barangay Poblacion, Kabacan, North Cotabato, a 19-year-old female student was killed and 16 others were wounded when a bomb exploded at the foot of an overpass.

Kabacan Chief of Police Supt. Jordain Maribojo said three students were still in critical condition in the hospital from shrapnel wounds.

Bomb squad units of the military and the police scoured the area and recovered two more unexploded bombs several meters away from the foot of the overpass where the explosion occurred, said Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.

“The two improvised explosive devices were placed in the approaches of the pedestrian flyover,” Hermoso said.

Police investigators believe the BIFF planted the bombs, which were intended to kill and injure pedestrians using the overpass.

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2014/11/18/5-dead-17-injured-in-rebel-raids/