CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao – The Army’s 6th Infantry Division has stepped up its operation against the Islamic State-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in Maguindanao after the terror group's continued attacks against the military and civilians in the province.
“The pursuit operations against the terror group will continue without letup to preempt them from further sowing fear and violence,” said Maj. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, 6ID commander, in an interview with newsmen here Monday.
The latest BIFF attack occurred on March 7 in Barangay Tuka, Mamasapano, Maguindanao, where two soldiers and a civilian were hurt. Sobejana declined to name the wounded soldiers pending notification of their respective families.
He identified the wounded civilian though as Bihamdi Abdulkarim Abdulgani who sustained injuries in his knees. Abdulgani was walking home around 10 p.m. along the village when he noticed about 300 armed men near the Army detachment in the area.
Sobejana said Abdulgani cautioned the armed men not to come near the military base but was fired upon. Other BIFF gunmen fired at the military base that injured two members of 40th Infantry Battalion 3rd Light Armor Company and sparked a 10-minute firefight.
“The BIFF then withdrew towards nearby Liguasan Marsh while the civilian victim was rushed to a hospital in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao,” Sobejana said.
The military official condemned the attack, calling it barbaric and inhuman since the civilian was a non-combatant.
Meanwhile, at least four off-duty Army soldiers were killed--three in Maguindanao and one in neighboring Cotabato City--in separate attacks over the past two weeks. The BIFF claimed they carried out the attacks in retaliation to the series of military airstrikes and artillery bombardment against them in the province.
Sobejana vowed the heightened military operations against the BIFF in Maguindanao will be sustained.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1064174
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