Fighting continues to rage in central Mindanao as government forces suffer another wave of casualties in their offensive against the BIFF
BIFF LEADER. A file photo of MILF leader Ameril Umra Kato. Photo by Rappler
MAGUINDANAO,
Philippines (UPDATED) – Two Marine soldiers were killed while 5 others were
wounded as intense battles between government troops and the breakaway
Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) continued in central Mindanao.
Marine
troopers pursuing the BIFF encountered the rebels at 4 pm on Tuesday, March 10,
in the border of Pusaw, a village between the towns of Shariff Saydona Mustapha
and Mamasapano in Maguindanao, according to Army Captain Joan Petinglay,
spokesman for the military’s 6th Division.
Petinglay
said early Wednesday that a Marine trooper under the 2nd Marine Brigade was
killed in the fierce fighting.
“Sporadic
gun fires can still be heard at the area around 1 am Wednesday,” she said.
She
later told reporters another Marine died in the battelfield.
In
attacks before this, the military already lost 4 soldiers, including a captain from the Scout Rangers, and
saw 13 of its men wounded, among them an Air force pilot.
The
military said they have killed at least 73 rebels, wounded 33 of them and
captured 4 of their camps.
More
than 80,000 people have been displaced in the biggest military campaign here
since the signing of the peace deal between the government and the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF) last year. Opposed to the peace process, the BIFF broke
away from the MILF.
Major
General Edmundo Pangilinan, military commander in central Mindanao, earlier
said that among the targets of the offensive
launched last February 25 is terrorist Abdul Basit Usman, who managed to
get away during the January 25 Special Action Force operation in Mamasapano
town that killed Malaysian bomb maker and terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir (Marwan).
The Mamasapano operation however killed 44 SAF commandos, put in peril the
peace deal with the MILF and caused the worst crisis for the Aquino
administration.
"Basit
Usman is still believed to be in the area. We believe the BIFF, this armed,
lawless group, are the ones coddling and protecting him," Pangilinan said
last week.
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