3 BIFF members killed in Maguindanao clash

MAGUINDANAO – Three members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) were killed while a soldier was wounded in an encounter in Shariff Saidona town, late Sunday.

The incident caused panic among villagers, who are barely recovering from their displacement early this year due to the BIFF's hostilities.

The encounter erupted when BIFF bandits surrounded a command post of the 61st Division Reconnaissance Company of the 6th Infantry Division in Barangay Ganta in Shariff Saidona and, without warning, fired anti-tank rockets and assault rifles at the bunkers and sleeping quarters of soldiers.

Though outnumbered, the soldiers inside the makeshift Army camp managed to return fire and repel their attackers.

Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman of 6th ID, said a member of the 61st DRC was wounded in the initial exchange of gunfire.

“The soldier was just slightly wounded and has returned to duty after receiving first aid,” Hermoso said.

Hermoso said the bandits retreated to a nearby marsh after the soldiers started firing 40MM shoulder-fire grenades and 60MM mortar projectiles.

The bandits’ escape route was heavily stained with blood, according to Hermoso.

Pursuing soldiers even recovered two shirts drenched with human blood in one spot where the gunmen had gathered before retreating deeper into the swampy border of Maguindanao’s Shariff Saidona and Datu Piang towns.

Hermoso said they have been receiving persistent feedback from local folks and barangay leaders that three BIFF dead bandits were seen being carried away from the scene by their fleeing companions.

“But since we don’t have actual enemy body count, we can’t confirm that. The reports coming from local residents seemed true,” he said.