BIFF torches 6 houses in Cotabato village after battling militia

From InterAksyon (Oct 22): BIFF torches 6 houses in Cotabato village after battling militia

The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters torched six houses in a remote village of Midsayap in Cotabato province after failing to overrun a paramilitary base Thursday night, the Army said.

Lieutenant Colonel Markton Abo, spokesman of the 6th Infantry Division, said the burned houses in Barangay Polmoguen were unoccupied because residents there have been staying in other villages at night, returning only in the day to tend their farms, since reported sightings of BIFF gunmen massing on the borders of Cotabato and Maguindanao.

The trouble started when militiamen noticed some 50 BIFF fighters moving toward Polomonguen around 6 p.m. Thursday.

The militiamen fired warning shots, triggering a three-hour firefight with the Army providing support with mortars.

The militia suffered no casualties.

The Army's 34th Infantry Battalion conducted clearing operations in Polomoguen and adjacent villages at dawn Friday.

The military and Moro Islamic Liberation Front then deployed peacekeeping forces to the boundary of Midsayap and Datu Piang, Maguindanao where the BIFF is known to operate.

http://interaksyon.com/article/133585/biff-torches-6-houses-in-cotabato-village-after-battling-militia