Security tightened in NCotabato town after BIFF attack

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines  --- The military tightened security in Barangay Popoyon in Tulunan town to thwart a repeat of Sunday’s attack by Moro bandits that left a villager wounded and caused the dislocation of dozens of peasant families.

Capt. Calvin Catapang, spokesman of the Army’s 602nd Brigade, on Tuesday said soldiers have been deployed in strategic spots at the swampy border of Maguindanao and North Cotabato, from where the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters launched their attacks.

The farmer wounded in the BIFF’s attack last Sunday at Barangay Popoyon, Jendy Pelinte, is now undergoing medication at a hospital.

Pelinte was shot and wounded while near a detachment of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit in Barangay Popoyon, which BIFF bandits attacked from different directions past 4 p.m. Sunday.

Barangay Popoyon is near the 222,000-hectare Liguasan Delta, which BIFF bandits use as springboard for violent attacks in selected areas in Central Mindanao.

The BIFF’s spokesman, Abu Misry Mama, on Monday confirmed over radio stations in Central Mindanao that they were behind the harassment of a para-military detachment in Barangay Poypoyon.

BIFF bandits have earlier attacked Army detachments in Maguindanao’s adjoining Datu Piang and Sharif Saidona towns, and in Midsayap, North Cotabato.

Members of the group had also set off three roadside bombs in Maguindanao in the past four weeks, wounding four persons.

Catapang said intelligence operatives of the 602nd Brigade are now helping the provincial police guard bus terminals and public markets in North Cotabato that are vulnerable to BIFF attacks.