Army says 4 BIFF die in Maguindanao clashes

From the Philippine News Agency (Jun 10): Army says 4 BIFF die in Maguindanao clashes

The military announced Tuesday that four members of renegade Moro rebel group were killed in a series of firefights with the Army that started Tuesday dawn in Maguindanao.

Three civilians, including a minor, were also hurt in attacks carried out by Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), according to Colonel Dickson Hermoso.

Hermoso, speaking for the regional military unit, said it was the second day of sporadic attacks by the BIFF in various Army positions in the province.

At 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, BIFF rebels ambushed combatants of the 45th Infantry Battalion in Mamasapano, Maguindanao which triggered an hour-long firefight.

The BIFF then retreated toward the marshland of Maguindanao bringing with them wounded comrades while leaving behind their four fatalities when Army reinforcements from nearby military base arrived.

Hermoso said the dead BIFF guerillas were turned over to village officials.

The Army forces, led by Lt. Col. Donald Hongitan of the 45th IB, and Col. Gener Del Rosario, commanding officer of the Army’s 1st Mechanized Brigade, conducted follow-up operations which led to the arrest of four BIFF bandits, one of them a woman.

After interrogation, Hongitan said, the captured bandits led the soldiers to their hideout where several improvised roadside bombs, a .50-caliber Barret sniping rifle and a firing tube for 60-mm mortar projectile were found.

Government forces also recovered a stolen Toyota air-conditioned van at the hideout of the gunmen, led by a certain Commander Bonggo.

On Monday, three BIFF bandits were killed while a soldier was wounded in fierce firefight following an attempt by Moro guerillas to overrun an Army reconnaissance base in Barangay Ganta, Shariff Saydona town, also in Maguindanao.

Hermoso said the atrocities carried by the BIFF also resulted in the injury of three civilians, including a minor in three adjoining towns.

On Monday dawn, Hongitan said, the BIFF set off a roadside bomb fashioned from 60-mm mortar along a highway in Barangay Lower Salbu, Datu Saudi Ampatuan that wounded a man passing on board a motorcycle.

On Saturday, a minor was hurt in a grenade attack carried out by suspected BIFF toward an Army base in Barangay Elian, also in Datu Saudi Ampatuan town.

A 35-year-old woman, Bai Saida Lakin, was hurt when BIFF strafed an Army base in Barangay Damalabas, Datu Piang, Maguindanao on Monday night.

Hermoso blamed the strafing to BIFF members led by Commanders Quiapo and Leki, known field commanders of BIFF founding chair Omra Ameril Kato.

Abu Misry Mama, BIFF spokesperson, admitted they initiated the attacks but denied suffering casualty.

Hermoso said the highway linking Cotabato City and Sultan Kudarat province remained passable but commuters were advised to refrain from using the road network at night or early morning.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=652104