Funds sought for wounded MILF guerillas who fought with BIFF

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — Officials are urging the public to help in the medical needs of Moro guerillas injured in their effort to neutralize violent extremists in Maguindanao province.

More than a dozen guerillas of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front had been wounded in encounters with a third faction in the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters since late July.

Socrates Piñol, member of the North Cotabato provincial board, said on Saturday that he will propose a resolution, subject to approval by his colleagues, recommending to the government the allocation of fund for the treatment of the injured guerillas.

He said he will sponsor the drafting of the resolution during the session next week of the provincial board.

"(In the) meantime, kind-hearted people may provide help. It is for us all, the Muslims, Christians and the Lumads, that the MILF is helping the government prevent the spread of these militants," Piñol said.

The breakaway BIFF group the MILF is trying to purge is led by Esmael Abdulmalik.

He was trained in fabrication of improvised explosive devices by the slain Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, most known as Marwan.

Four MILF guerillas, among them a senior commander, Rambo 6, were wounded in firefights with the militant group early Friday in Barangay Tee in Datu Salibo town in the second district of Maguindanao.

Five others, Mahmod Laguiab, Darix Kendag, Kuzak Ali, Anwar Maulana and Kalidin Ulama, who all belong to the MILF's Task Force Ittihad, were killed in the encounter.

It was the MILF's seventh encounter with the BIFF since it started operating against Abdulmalik three weeks ago in support of President Rodrigo Duterte's anti-terror campaign.

Local officials and barangay leaders have confirmed that 12 of Abdulmalik's men, among them his son, Hamdi, were killed in Friday's hostilities.

Neighbors of Abdulmalik's daughter residing in Barangay Lapok in Sharif Aguak town in Maguindanao told reporters that Hamdi died from multiple gunshot wounds in the upper torso.

Abdulmalik has been claiming allegiance to the terror organization Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

The two larger factions in the BIFF, one led by Imam Karialan and the other by Imam Bongos, have separately disowned the group of Abdulmalik for fear of being targeted next by the MILF.

Lt. Col. Gerry Besana, commanding officer of the Army's 6th Civil-Military Operations Battalion, said helping the wounded MILF guerillas now confined in hospitals will boost the morale of their companions hunting for Abdulmalik.

"It is good to give them recognition by way of helping them and the families of those killed in their campaign against ISIS-inspired militants," Besana said on Saturday.

Five MILF fighters were killed last week when one of them stepped on a trip wire attached to a powerful landmine while chasing Abdulmalik and his followers at the swampy boarder of Datu Piang and Salibo towns.

The landmine, laid by the fleeing militants, was fashioned from explosive powders packed with bent nails and fragments of metals with jagged edges.