4 BIFF gunmen killed in latest Maguindanao clashes

Maguindanao --- Four militant bombers were killed while six soldiers were wounded in clashes Sunday in Datu Unsay town southeast of Maguindanao province.The hostilities erupted when members of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters opened fire on personnel of the 2ndMechanized Infantry Battalion patrolling in Barangay Malangog, Datu Unsay.There is strong presence of the Islamic State-Inspired BIFF in Datu Unsay, located in the second district of Maguindanao and whose elected officials are being criticized for doing nothing to address domestic security woes.Four BIFF gunmen, whom local leaders identified only as Sam, Tendos, Arip and Sukarno, were killed in the ensuing gunfight.The BIFF bandits scampered away carrying their dead companions as Army reinforcements came close.Six other terrorists, three of them identified as Salik, Omar and Kuri, were reportedly wounded as they traded shots with soldiers.Captain Arvin Encinas, public affairs chief of the Army’s 6thInfantry Division, said pursuing soldiers found along the escape route of the fleeing gunmen two assault rifles, a .45 caliber pistol, a .50 caliber Barrett sniping rifle, two fragmentation grenades and two jute sacks full of materials for improvised explosive devices.Encinas said the team of soldiers that clashed with BIFF members was dispatched to Barangay Malangog after Army officials in Datu Unsay and nearby towns received tips from villagers purporting that militants were assembling roadside bombs there to be planted along strategic stretches of highways crisscrossing Maguindanao.The two-hour running firefight in Barangay Malangog was preceded by the bombing Saturday night by BIFF gunmen of a roadside Army detachment in nearby Shariff Aguak town, also in the second district of Maguindanao.Witnesses said three gunmen crawled near the detachment along a highway in Labu-Labu in Shariff Aguak, hurled grenades and hurriedly escaped as the explosives went off.A passerby named Nasser Kusain, 19, was injured in the attack.An Army bomb disposal team deactivated four IEDs found by Moro farmers at noontime Saturday in nearby Barangay Kuloy, Shariff Aguak.An ordnance expert was slightly wounded when a fifth IED went off while being dissembled.Encinas said the wounded bomb demolition operative is now confined in a hospital.