BIFF attacks Datu Piang town; residents flee

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - Soldiers foiled Sunday night another attempt by the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) to take over an Army outpost in Datu Piang town, forcing some 300 villagers to evacuate to safe areas.

Datu Piang’s municipal peace and order council has confirmed that the attack forced dozens of Moro families from the surroundings of the Army installation in Barangay Magaslong, which BIFF bandits had repeatedly attacked in recent months.

The hostilities erupted when the bandits, armed with assault rifles and shoulder-fire 40 MM grenades, attacked past 9 Sunday from two directions the outpost of the Alpha Company of the 45th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Magaslong, about four kilometers southwest of the town center of Datu Piang.

The soldiers manning the outpost traded shots with the bandits until past 3 p.m. Monday.

The firefight waned only after the bandits ran out of ammunition, forcing them to retreat to southwest of Datu Piang bringing with them six wounded companions.

Police investigators and Army intelligence agents have confirmed seeing heavy stains of blood along the bandits’ escape route.

Local officials said the BIFF’s attempt to take over the Army outpost in Barangay Magaslong was an apparent retaliation for its losses in last week’s incursion in North Cotabato’s Midsayap town.

Some 300 bandits laid siege on five farming enclaves in Midsayap, held more than 20 civilians hostages, beheaded farmer Ricarte Dionio and executed another before they scampered away as government forces launched a counter-offensive.

BIFF spokesman Abu Misry Mama said their forces were behind the attacks in Midsayap last October 23 and the harassment of soldiers in Barangay Magaslong Sunday night.

The BIFF’s attack Sunday night forced villagers in the adjoining Barangays Magaslong, Madtalbayog, Glasi, and Gumbay to evacuate to the compound of a mosque and a nearby campus of a Catholic school in the town proper of Datu Piang.