BIFF attacks Maguindanao town

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines  ---- A firefight in Datu Saudi town in the province that killed a child and wounded a farmer greeted Monday’s state of the nation address of President Benigno Aquino III.

Members of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters reportedly opened fire first on a roadside detachment of the Army’s 2nd Mechanized Battalion in Barangay Elian in Datu Saudi and fled.

The bandits reportedly blasted several rounds of 40 MM grenades near the detachment before escaping, wounding a child and a farmer.

Catholic station dxMS in Cotabato City reported Tuesday morning that the child, who was hit by shrapnel in the neck, died while undergoing medication at a local hospital.

The spokesman of the BIFF, Abu Misry Mama, denied any involvement of their forces in the Barangay Elian attack.

“We’ve got nothing to do with that incident. We don’t deny involvement of our forces if indeed they are behind harassments of military positions,” he told reporters in Filipino.

Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman of the 6th ID, said the Barangay Elian incident, which occurred while President Aquino was delivering his SONA at the House of Representatives, prompted military units in Datu Saudi and surrounding towns to  step up their community patrols to prevent bandits from getting close to Moro villages.

The BIFF has been attacking military positions even before the July 10 start of the Islamic Ramadhn fasting season.

“The incident once again marred the supposedly solemn observance of the Ramadan by the local Muslim communities,” Hermoso said.

Muslims, as a religious obligation, fast from dawn to dusk and focus on good deeds and reparations for wrongdoings during the Ramadan, which lasts for one lunar cycle, or about 28 to 29 days.