(UPDATE) Death toll in BIFF attacks rises to 13, village kagawad killed in North Cotabato

ESPERANZA, Sultan Kudarat – A village councilman was
killed in North Cotabato in a coordinate offensives by lawless Bangsamoro
Islamic Freedom Fighters on Christmas Eve, raising the death toll to 13,
officials said.

The latest fatality was Robert Latosa, barangay kagawad of
Barangay Simsiman, Pigcawayan, North Cotabato.

After attacking villages in the borders of Maguidnanao and
Sultan Kudarat, the BIFF, led by Commander Abonawas Alamada, killed Latosa by
firing a rifle grenade into his home in Barangay Simsiman, Pigcawayan at about
9 p.m. Thursday.

Another band of BIFF also attacked the detachment of 38th
Infantry Battalion in Barangay Malagakit and strafed at a Catholic chapel where
a midnight mass was on going, sending the Church-goers running for their lives.
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(An embalmer at Villa Funeral homes point to one of the eight fatalities in BIFF attacks in Sultan Kudarat-Maguindanao boundary) Relatives of Latosa said he and his family were preparing to
attend the mass when the gunmen arrived and fired rifle grenade.

At about 9 p.m. another group of BIFF stormed a detachment of 2nd
Mechanized Infantry Battalion in Barangay Dapiawan, Datu Saudi Ampatuan in
Maguindanao. No casualty was reported.

In the tri-borders of Abdullah Sangki, Ampatuan towns in
Maguindanao and Esperanza in Sultan Kudarat, government forces found another
farmer dead.

Lt. Colonel Ricky Bunayog, 33rd Infantry Battalion
commander, said government forces had difficulty retrieving the remains of
slain farmers due to improvised bombs planted by BIFF before fleeing.

Soldiers of the 33rd Infantry Battali, instead of
celebrating Christmas in their respective camps, spent the day in pursuing the
bandits in the mountains of Abdullah Sangki and Ampatuan, Maguindanao.

Soldiers and policemen admitted they had to hurdle threats of
booby traps left by BIFF in and around the areas where five civilian farmers
were killed.

Bunayog said another farmer was found dead in the Barangay Paitan,
Datu Abdulla Sangki, Maguindanao on Christmas Day or about 10 hours after the
BIFF launched the offensive.

We believed one of their field commanders was killed that is
why they were so brutal on civilians,” Bunayog said. Four improvised bombs were
defused in the area.

The slain farmers tried to beat the Holidays by spraying
chemicals in the field and get paid so they have something for the Christmas Eve
dinner,” Reme Demo, a relative of the slain farmers, said.

Instead in our homes, we are here at the funeral parlor on
Christmas Eve,” Demo told reporters.

They were all civilians and not CAFGU (Civilian Armed Forces
Geographical Unit) as claimed by the BIFF,” Demo said.

In the outlying villages of Midsayap, North Cotabato, police and
military forces were alerted after the sightings of armed men believed to be
BIFF in the Maguidanao-North Cotabato boundary.

Abu Misry Mama, BIFF spokesperson, claimed responsibility in the
attacks claiming they only target armed military and para-military forces.

We spare civilians,” Mama said. But when informed eight
civilian farmers were executed, he saidand They were collateral victims.”

Mama vowed the BIFF will launch more attacks as part of the
group’s jihad for Islamic State. (Ferdinandh Cabrera)