BIFF bomb courier killed in Maguindanao Sur clash

COTABATO CITY -- Soldiers and policemen shot dead a courier of explosives they were to arrest in an anti-terror operation in Maguindanao del Sur Thursday that turned haywire when he resisted, provoking a clash. 

The slain Bansir Samaon, a member of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and known by aliases Bungo and Malang, died on the spot from multiple bullet wounds.

Lt. Col. Michael Glenn Manansala, commander of the Army’s 6^th Infantry Battalion, said Saturday a team was to serve the suspect a warrant of arrest in Barangay Madia in Datu Saudi Ampatuan in Maguindanao del Sur but he pulled out a pistol and opened fire.

“The soldiers and policemen involved in the operation were forced to neutralize him,” Manansala said.

 The 6^th IB is under the Army’s 6^th Infantry Division, whose units comprises the anti-terror Joint Task Force Central.

Villagers and relatives have confirmed that Samaon was a courier of improvised explosive devices in a BIFF group led by the long wanted Kagui Karialan. 

Karialan was tagged in a number of deadly bomb attacks in central Mindanao in the past seven years.