BIFF, Army clash in Maguindanao's Datu Saudi town

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — Soldiers and members of the brigand Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) traded shots late Sunday in a secluded district in Datu Saudi town, causing panic among local folks.

The latest Army-BIFF encounter in the municipality erupted when bandits attacked a team of soldiers guarding a strategic spot overlooking a stretch of the Cotabato-Gen. Santos Highway, not far from the town proper.

Datu Saudi town is located in the second district of Maguindanao, where most BIFF gangs, feared for mulcting of revolutionary tax from villagers and ruthless enforcement of a Taliban-style justice system, are holding out.

The bandits even fired several anti-tank rockets on the soldiers, who managed to outflank their attackers as they returned fire using their service rifles and shoulder-fire, 40-millimeter grenades.

The soldiers, who belong to an Army mechanized unit under the 2nd Mechanized Brigade, eventually drove the BIFF gunmen away after a 30-minute exchange of gunfire.

The retreating bandits set off improvised explosive devices as they escaped.

Local officials said the bandits who figured in Monday night’s encounter in Barangay Kabpangi south of Datu Saudi was spotted roaming the day before in peasant enclaves at the upland tri-boundary of Maguindanao’s South Upi, Datu Saudi and Guindulungan towns, where they collected food and other provisions from farmers at gunpoint.