BIFF attacks Army detachments in Maguindanao

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines -- Members of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) simultaneously attacked Thursday dawn Army positions along a national highway in the second district of the province, the military said.

The BIFF bandits, led by Samad Simpal, Kadaffy Abdulatip and a certain Bungos, first fired assault rifles and anti-tank rockets on the roadside detachment of the Army’s 45th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Meta in Datu Saudi, and at nearby military installations, provoking firefights.

Another group had also shelled thrice with shoulder-fire grenades the old provincial capitol compound at Shariff Aguak town, which is being used as a command base of the 1st Mechanized Brigade.

There were no reports of casualties, but the attacks triggered panic among local folks.

The bandits fled to nearby hinterlands after the soldiers returned fire with caliber .50 machineguns and 40 MM grenade projectiles.

The attacks prompted the Army’s 6th Infantry Division to tighten security in the surroundings of the affected towns to prevent a repeat of the group’s dawn incursions

The Maguindanao provincial police had also deployed more policemen in areas vulnerable to BIFF attacks, according to Senior Supt. Rudelio Jocson, the police director of the province.

The flow of traffic on portions of the Cotabato-Gen. Santos Highway that cuts through Shariff Aguak and Datu Unsay remained normal, but under heavy guard by soldiers positioned at strategic hills overlooking the thoroughfare.

The BIFF, led by Saudi-trained cleric Ameril Ombra Kato, does not recognize the July 1997 Agreement on General Cessation of Hostilities between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front

Kato, feared for his terror activities, began as chief of the MILF’s 105th Base Command, but got  booted out in 2010  due to insubordination and irreconcilable differences with his superiors and, subsequently, launched the BIFF.