Army ready for BIFF retaliation

TACURONG CITY, Philippines - Authorities are bracing for possible retaliations by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) for losing four of its gunmen in an encounter with soldiers early this week, Army officials said Wednesday.

Col. Markton Abo, civil-military operations officer of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the soldiers who clashed with BIFF bandits in Sitio Saniag in Barangay Kauran in Ampatuan, Maguindanao also recovered from the scene 10 high-powered firearms, dozens of explosive projectiles and 4,694 rounds of rifle ammunition.

“Our soldiers who figured in the encounter had no actual body count of slain enemies but there are persistent reports by barangay residents that four BIFF members were indeed killed in that incident,” Abo said.

Abo said the commander of 6th ID, Major Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr., ordered all Army units guarding areas vulnerable to BIFF attacks to guard against possible retaliations by the outlawed group.

Galvez and Col. Carlito Sobejana of the 601st Brigade on Wednesday presented to reporters at a military camp in Barangay Kalandagan here the recovered firearms, comprised of assault rifles, an M-60 machinegun and a shoulder-fire grenade launcher.

“They suffered a big loss in that encounter so we need to guard against their possible harassments of civilian and military targets just to get even,” Sobejana said.

The BIFF is known for targeting non-combatants, motorists and commuters passing through isolated stretches of the Cotabato-Isulan Highway to avenge losses in skirmishes with the military.  

The group, which boasts of allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, mulcts money from hapless peasants to sustain its activities and espouses hatred for non-Muslims.

Included in the arms cache the BIFF bandits abandoned in Sitio Saniag as they fled carrying four dead companions were 21 live 40 millimeter projectiles and more than a dozen 81 millimeter mortar rounds that can be fabricated into roadside bombs.

The BIFF pulled of some 50 roadside bombings in Maguindanao province in the past 12 months, killing more than a dozen innocent civilians and patrolling soldiers.