4 BIFF men killed, 6 soldiers hurt in clash

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — Four suspected members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) were killed while six soldiers were wounded in an encounter in Datu Unsay town on Sunday.

The fatalities were identified only as Sam, Tendos, Arip and Sukarno. Their bodies were taken by their comrades as they escaped when more soldiers arrived to reinforce government troopers.

Three other BIFF men known only by their aliases of Salik, Omar and Kuri were also reportedly wounded.

The BIFF men reportedly fired at personnel of the Second Mechanized Infantry Battalion patrolling Barangay Malangog.

Capt. Arvin Encinas, public affairs chief of the 6th Infantry Division, said soldiers recovered two rifles, a .45-caliber pistol, a .50-caliber Barrett, two fragmentation grenades and two jute sacks, which contained bomb materials, along the BIFF’s escape route.

Encinas said the soldiers were deployed in the area after they received reports that BIFF men were making bombs to be planted along the highways in this province.

The firefight was preceded by a grenade attack on a roadside Army detachment in Shariff Aguak on Saturday, which left a passerby, Nasser Kusain, 19, wounded.

An Army bomb disposal team deactivated four improvised explosive devices (IEDs) seized in Barangay Kuloy also in Shariff Aguak.

A bomb expert was wounded when an IED went off while being disassembled. He remains confined in a hospital.