Clearing operations vs. BIFF to continue in Maguindanao town

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - The military will continue clearing strategic areas in Datu Salibo town of bandits despite losses in the past five weeks due to bombings and counterattacks meant to drive soldiers away.

At least 31 personnel from units of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division have been injured in a series of encounters with members of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in the area in recent weeks.

Four soldiers have also been killed in the firefights, among them a soldier who succumbed to blast injuries while at the Armed Forces of the Philippines Medical Center in Quezon City.

The recurring clashes in Datu Salibo began early February when gunmen armed with assault rifles and anti-tank rockets shot at the equipment of a contractor building a multimillion-peso flood control dike north of the town.

Local officials said the BIFF attacked the project site after the contractor refused to shell out monthly "protection" money.

Units of the 6th ID now deployed in the adjoining towns of Datu Salibo, Datu Saudi Ampatuan and Datu Piang are bracing for more attacks by the BIFF, who they expect will try to avenge the deaths of at least 30 gunmen reportedly killed by soldiers in 53 combat engagements since early February.

Bandits and soldiers last traded shots on Tuesday night, sparked by an attempt by marauding gunmen to get near a roadside detachment of the Army’s 22nd Mechanized Company in Barangay Magaslong in Datu Piang town.

Captain Joan Petinglay, spokesperson of the 6th ID, said the two soldiers wounded in the firefight are recuperating in a hospital.

Petinglay said that of the 31 soldiers hurt in encounters with the BIFF in the past weeks, 13 were injured in roadside bombings while searching for booby traps along farm trails connecting farming communities to markets in the center of Datu Salibo and in nearby towns.

A matrix obtained by The STAR from the 6th ID’s Tactical Operations Center indicated that, in Datu Salibo alone, Army bomb experts deactivated a total of 28 improvised explosive devices rigged with “victim-activated” triggers from mid-February to early March.

“These are the kinds of explosives long banned by the international community. These are not `command-detonated’ bombs that can be used  only for specific targets,” Petinglay said.

Last month, BIFF members killed Datu Salibo's town treasurer and his four companions with a powerful roadside bomb. Two police officers were also injured in a roadside bombing over the weekend in Guindulungan town, also in Maguindanao.