BIFF raid 2 outposts

From the Manila Standard Today (Jan 4): BIFF raid 2 outposts

A GOVERNMENT trooper was killed while three others were wounded after the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters launched simultaneous attacks on two military detachments in Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao before dawn Saturday.

Army Capt Joan Petinglay, spokesperson of the Army’s 6th Division, said the BIFF rebels attacked outposts of the 33rd Infantry Battalion at General Salipada Pendatun town in Maguindanao and President Quirino town in Sultan Kudarat around 1 a.m.

Petinglay said government troops had to fight the rebels for an hour, resulting in the casualties in Maguindanao, before they withdrew from the area. The identities of the four were withheld pending notifications of their next-of-kin.

She added that the casualties were immediately evacuated by responding troops from the 62nd  Division Reconnaissance Company and brought to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Petinglay surmised the attack may have been meant to derail the ongoing peace process between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the government.

“The incident manifest that the terrorist group who called themselves BIFF will continually be a potent spoiler to peace in Central Mindanao,” said 6th ID commander Maj. Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan.

Pangilinan said the 6th ID, in coordination with the PNP, “will continue to proactively work together in order to preempt plans of the rebel group which may cause disorder  to the peaceful and developing communities of the region.”

Pangilinan also called on the communities “to be vigilant  ad to help look after the whereabouts of the terror group in order to limit their movements and actions.”

The attacks came barely a week after the BIFF was blamed for the twin blast in Mlang, North Cotabato that left 6 people dead.

The first incident killed two people when an improvised explosive device went off inside a billiard hall near a carnival last Nov. 23 while the second bomb incident took place at the busy public market in Mlang town killing four people and injuring 36 others.

North Cotabato officials have offered a bounty of P200,000 for information leading to the arrest of the suspects in the New Year’s Eve bombing that killed four people and injured 33 others in the M’lang public market.

Mayor Joselito Piñol said the town is offering a reward of P100,000 for witnesses to help the authorities identify suspects even as the Bangsamoro Islamic Liberation Front denied involvement in the bombing.

North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Talino-Mendoza also offered an additional P100,000 to the cash reward with the pledge that all information will be treated as confidential to protect the identity of the informant.

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2015/01/04/biff-raid-2-outposts/