3 BIFF bandits slain in Maguindanao

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines   – Three suspected members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) were killed while 10 villagers were wounded when the bandit group attacked two military detachments in Datu Piang and Shariff Saidona towns here yesterday.

The firefight erupted when two groups of bandits simultaneously harassed the military detachments in the villages of Damablas in Datu Piang and Ganta in Shariff Saidona, said Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesperson for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.              

The soldiers fought back, forcing the BIFF men to retreat, bringing with them their six wounded companions.

Two bandits were killed in the initial firefight, while the other died as he and his companions were fleeing toward the border of Shariff Saidona and Mamasapano towns, also in Maguindanao.

Hermoso said 10 villagers were wounded when the armed men fired at houses near the detachments.

Officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao have dispatched relief workers to the three towns to help the villagers affected by the fighting.

Earlier, a group of BIFF men burned some P30 million worth of farm equipment at a multinational banana plantation in Tulunan, North Cotabato.

A bandit was killed in the incident, while four others were wounded when the farm security guards engaged them in a firefight.

Hermoso said last Sunday the group also planted a bomb near an Army detachment in Datu Saudi town.