4 BIFF members killed, 4 captured in clash with Army

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines – Four members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) were killed in a series of firefights that started at about dawn Tuesday, the second day of the BIFF’s harassment of military positions in isolated areas in the province.

The hostilities in Mamasapano town, located  in the second district of Maguindanao, erupted when BIFF bandits opened fire on patrolling combatants of the Army’s 45 Infantry Battalion, provoking an hour-long running firefight.

The bandits scampered away after sensing that Army reinforcements from nearby detachments have started closing in.

Barangay officials have confirmed, citing reports by villagers, that three BIFF bandits were killed in the ensuing encounter, while another, who sustained shrapnel wounds when a 40 millimeter shoulder-fire grenade landed near him, died while being carried away from the scene by retreating companions.

Pursuing soldiers, led by Lt. Col. Donald Hongitan of the 45th IB, and Col. Gener Del Rosario, commanding officer of the Army’s 1st Mechanized Brigade, had captured four BIFF bandits, one of them a woman armed with an anti-tank rocket launcher.

The captured bandits led the soldiers to their hideout, where several improvised roadside bombs, a .50 caliber Barret sniping rifle, and a firing tube for 60 MM mortar projectile, were found, now in the custody of the 45th IB.

Hermoso said soldiers also found a stolen Toyota air-conditioned van at the hideout of the gunmen, led by a certain Commander Bonggo, a henchman of the BIFF’s founder, Imam Ameril Ombra Kato.

Three BIFF bandits were killed while a soldier was wounded in an encounter on Monday in Maguindanao’s Shariff Saidona town in the east of Mamasapano.

The gunbattle was sparked by an attempt by BIFF gunmen to surround a company command post of the 61st Division Reconnaissance Company (DRC) of the 6th Infantry Division in Barangay Ganta, Shariff Saidona.

Soldiers inside the makeshift Army camp managed to repel the bandits, preventing them from breaching the camp’s perimeter fences.

Hermoso said a member of the 61st DRC was wounded in the initial exchanges of gunfire.

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