BIFF members launch offensives after Army overtakes camp

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - Members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) have been trying to drive away soldiers in Army detachments in the southeast of Maguindanao since Monday night, an Army spokesman said.

Col. Dickson Hermoso of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division told reporters the bandits first fired anti-tank rockets and assault rifles Monday night on soldiers in Barangay Ganta at the border of Maguindanao’s Datu Piang and Sharif Saidona towns.

Soldiers guarding Barangay Ganta promptly returned fire, forcing the hasty retreat of their attackers to a nearby marsh near the Liguasan Delta.

The bandits returned on Tuesday and, again, recklessly fired assault rifles at the Army detachments.

Barangay Ganta, a bastion of the BIFF, was cleared of bandits by units of the 6th ID last January, after two days of air and ground offensives.

“Maybe they want to take back their camp there, which is now guarded by our soldiers, and where the Philippine flag is raised everyday to show it is under government control,” Hermoso said.

Hermoso said there were no reports of casualties in the latest BIFF incursions, but the attacks again triggered panic among settlers in surrounding agricultural enclaves.

Soldiers and BIFF bandits thrice figured in deadly encounters in Barangay Ganta last month.

The Army detachments scattered in Barangay Ganta were last attacked by marauding bandits after dawn Wednesday.

“They try to get close to the positions of our combatants, fire assault rifles and anti-tank rockets and retreat immediately. They are scaring villagers, not our soldiers with what they are doing,” Hermoso said.

The BIFF, which splintered from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in 2010, does not recognize the 1997 General Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities between the government and the MILF.