MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - At least 7,000 more people have been displaced by the government's all-out offensive against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).
The number is expected to increase as the military prepares for an escalation of attacks by the BIFF to avenge the death of its 36 fighters killed in clashes since against government troops since March 1.
The offensives were launched following the death of 44 Special Action Force members in Mamasapano town, where the policemen were sent to neutralize top Jemaah Islamiyah operative Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Marine Corps airlifted to the Maguindanao Airport in Datu Odin town last Sunday three truckloads of ammunition and artillery projectiles as part of the preparations to neutralize the BIFF.
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Mujiv Hataman on Monday said the regional government's Humanitarian Emergency Assistance and Response Team (HEART) will disperse soon 10 tons more of relief supplies in evacuation sites in the seven towns where the military is running after forces of the BIFF.
Close to 50,000 evacuees driven from their homes by hostilities are now confined in relief sites.
More than 20 schools in conflict-stricken towns have also been shut for security reasons, affecting 21,201 elementary pupils and high school students.
Four soldiers, one of them an executive office of a Ranger unit, Captain Gromel Auman, were killed while five others were hurt in firefights with the Moro bandits at the tri-boundary of province's adjoining towns of Mamasapano, Datu Piang and Sharif Saidona. The firefighters started late Saturday and continued until noontime Sunday.
Local officials have confirmed that three of the slain soldiers belonged to the Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion, who were killed in a series of gunfights with members of the BIFF led by Imam Mohamad Tambako.
Five other Army combatants were wounded in the ensuing firefights.
Auman belonged to the 6th Scout Ranger Company, said a local executive, who is a senior member of Maguindanao's League of Mayors.
Two senior police officials in the province confirmed that three Army enlisted members and an officer were killed in encounters with BIFF bandits late Saturday.
“Apat na sundalo ang nasawi at isa sa kanila ay officer,”said one of them.
The firefights reportedly escalated after soldiers killed more than 10 BIFF gunmen under the groups of Tambako and Commander Bongos, who hail from Datu Saudi town.
Soldiers also killed four BIFF gunmen in another encounter Saturday morning in Barangay Pusao in Mamasapano.
One of the four slain bandits wore a uniform of the police’s Special Action Force, indicating he could be among the BIFF gunmen that clashed with SAF operatives last January 25 in three adjoining barangays in Mamasapano.
At least 44 SAF members, 18 guerillas of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and five civilians were killed in the incident.
BIFF’s spokesman, Abu Misry Mama, had bragged that they killed 10 SAF members during the January 25 encounters in Barangays Pidsandawan, Tukanalipao, and Inog-og.
Mama said BIFF members that fought the SAF men also took the firearms of the 10 slain policemen.
Besides Tambako’s group, combined Army and Marine combatants are also running after a more notorious band of BIFF gunmen led by Karialan, who is also a radical cleric.