Army: 14 BIFF slain in Maguindanao clashes

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao – The military here said the skirmishes between government forces and Dawla Islamiyah gunmen in Maguindanao have left 14 Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) dead and 25 wounded.

Three soldiers were injured in the day-long firefight that erupted on Bangsamoro Freedom Day (March 18) in Barangay Kitango, Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao. Lieutenant Colonel John Paul Baldomar, 6th Infantry Division spokesperson, said Tuesday the slain BIFF were immediately buried by their comrades according to Islamic rites.

He said the number BIFF fatalities was verified and counter-checked with the village officials, military informants and former BIFF who now works with the government after their surrender.

Several homes were also fired at by rifle grenades by the BIFF to divert the attention of the Army’s 1st Mechanized Infantry Brigade.

“They used a birthing clinic as launching pad in trading bullets with the Army,” Baldomar said, adding that when the BIFF felt the Army is overpowering them they hurriedly left and set the clinic ablaze.

But Abu Jihad, BIFF spokesperson, speaking over a local radio station, denied his group suffered 14 fatalities.

“We only had three martyrs (fatalities) and seven injured,” Jihad said in the vernacular, debunking claims by the Army and calling it “propaganda.”

Skirmishes between the soldiers backed by armored personnel carriers mounted with cal. 50 machine guns and some 50 BIFF erupted at 10 a.m. on March 18.

The soldiers were verifying reports by civilians about the massing of BIFF in Barangay Kitango and have plotted to attack a Joint Peace and Security Team (JPST) outpost in the village.

A JPST outpost is being manned by composite teams from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Army and police who were deployed to function as peacekeeping forces to ensure the security of residents within the six government-acknowledged MILF camps.

Government disaster officials said more than 12,000 individuals have been displaced by the hostilities and are now being attended to by relief agencies and international relief organizations.

These internally displaced persons (IDPs), estimated 5,000 families or 25,000 individuals, are scattered in various evacuation sites in Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Shariff Saydona Mustapha, Mamasapano and Shariff Aguak, according to the Ministry of Social Services and Development (BARMM) of the Bangsamoro Region.

With the continuous influx, an estimated 5,000 families with around 25,000 individuals are affected by the firefights.

Joining the MSSD in extending food and non-food items are the BARMM Rapid Emergency Action on Disaster Incidence (READi), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Health Organization for Mindanao, Oxfam and CO Multiversity (COM).

MSSD Minister Atty. Raisa Jajurie said other than food and non-food aid to displaced families, MSSD personnel have been providing psychosocial intervention to affected families.