Wednesday, March 11, 2015

(Update) 23 more BIFF men killed, 2 Marines dead as government forces engage brigands anew in Maguindanao

From the Philippine News Agency (Mar 11): (Update) 23 more BIFF men killed, 2 Marines dead as government forces engage brigands anew in Maguindanao

With the offensive against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters(BIFF) still ongoing, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) reported that 23 more BIFF men were killed along with two Marine troops following a series of encounters in Maguindanao Tuesday afternoon.

This was disclosed by AFP public affairs office chief Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc during a briefing Wednesday.

He added that units from Task Force Central and the 6th Infantry Division engaged BIFF forces during a series of gun battles in the boundaries of Datu Piang and Salibong towns, killing 23 bandits.

Also wounded were 30 of the brigands, increasing the number of hurt BIFF to 63.

Cabunoc said that all the BIFF losses were identified and validated as of this posting.

This brings to 96 the number of BIFF men killed since the offensive against the bandit group started on Feb. 25.

Cabunoc said he expects the number of dead BIFF members to climb further as operations against the group intensifies in the coming days.

He added that this loss is one third of the active strength of the bandit group which is placed at 300.

In another encounter with BIFF forces in Barangay Pusao, Shariff Saydona Mustapha town, two members of the Marine Battalion Landing Team-8 were killed while another two were wounded Tuesday night.

With this development, government losses was placed at six killed and 31 wounded.

Cabunoc said an undetermined number of BIFF killed and wounded in this encounter is still being validated as he declined to give more details.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=743491

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