10 BIFF, 2 soldiers die, as Army repulse BIFF harassment
Breaking News • 21:24 PM Thu Sep 11, 2014
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By:
John Unson, The Mindanao Cross
Photo by John Unson
(UPDATED)COTABATO CITY
(Sept. 11/NDBC) – Hoursafter
the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law was submitted by Malacanang to Congress,
renegade Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) tried anew but failed to take over Army detachments in the borders of Maguindanao and North Cotabato.As a result, two soldiers were killed and six others wounded, according to Maj. Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan.Pangilinan, chief of the 6th Infantry Division, said more than 10 BIFF members were killed, four of the dead were recovered by local officials.BIFF, armed with assault rifles and rifle
grenades, simultaneously attacked Army bases and civilian communities in the borders ofMidsayap, North Cotabato and Datu Piang, Maguindanao on Wednesday night.Soldiers and militiamen manning detachments in Barangay Baliki and Polomogen retaliated with automatic rifles, forcing the bandits to move to another village but government forces fired at its escape route.On Thursday dawn, BIFF rebels, numbering about 50, traded shots with militiamen manning detachments inBarangay Indatun in Northern Kabuntalan, Maguindanao, forcing the mobile bandits to retreat back to Datu Piang area.Col. Dickson
Hermoso, speaking for the 6th Infantry Division, could not say
whether the attack was related to the submission of draft BBL to Congress
Wednesday.
He said the
harassment started early Wednesday night until dawn Thursday.
Hermoso said
the Army’s 40th Infantry Battalion, which has jurisdiction over Midsayap and
Northern Kabuntalan towns, deployed more combatants in the detachments that
came under fire to forestall a repeat of the BIFF incursions.
Abu Misry
Mama, spokesman of the BIFF, confirmed to reporters that their forces were
indeed responsible for the latest attacks in the two towns.
Pangilinan said in a radio interview the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was officially informed, through the joint ceasefire panel, of the military manhunt launched against BIFF in the marshland.Some civilians, mothers and children have evacuated while the husbands or head of the family remained in the houses to secure family properties.The BIFF is
not covered by the government-MILF 1997 Agreement on General Cessation of
Hostilities.
The group,
which is fighting for an Islamic state, is opposed to the creation of a
Bangsamoro self-governing entity based on the final peace accord between the
government and the MILF, the March 27, 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on
Bangsamoro. (NDBC)