Another camp of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters
(BIFF) was captured during air and ground assaults by the military-led Task
Force Central (TFC), a regional Army spokesperson today said.
"Our offensives led to the capture of another BIFF
encampment in Guindulungan, Maguindanao," Capt. Joann Petinglay, speaking
for the Task Force Central, told the Philippine News Agency in a phone
interview.
Citing reports from the grounds, Petinglay said at least
eight or nine BIFF fighters were killed when two MG-520 helicopter gunships
conducted six air strike sorties.
The capture of another smaller camp
Sunday came as civilians tipped off
the Philippine Marines about the presence of BIFF massing in a remote village of Guindulungan
She said helicopter pilots saw the BIFF on board a motorized
boats fleeing in the Maguindanao marshland.
More than 100 BIFF have been neutralized in the military law
enforcement operation aimed at getting international terrorists coddled by the
BIFF.
The government side suffered six fatalities, including an
Army captain, and 29 wounded infantrymen.
Petinglay said the Marines and Army forces clashed with the
group of Mohammad Ali Tambako, leader of another group of BIFF, still fighting
government forces.
On Saturday, TFC conducted artillery offensives against BIFF
in the village of
Kitango
Petinglay said among the fatalities in Saturday's offensive
were three close kins of Filipino bomb making expert Basit Usman. The trio were
part of the 15-man close-in security of Usman who engaged police elite forces
in Mamasapano on January 25.
The government action has already displaced more than 91,000
civilians housed in temporarily in 72 evacuation sites.
On Sunday, the national government has vowed to provide
relief assistance as long as the IDPs are still in evacuation sites, according
to deputy presidential spokesperson Abegail Valte.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=744633
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