6 BIFF members, soldier killed in Maguindanao clashes

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — Six members of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and a soldier were killed in separate clashes in Maguindanao on Monday.

The Army fatality, Private 1st Class Quitor of the 33rd IB, died from bullet wounds sustained in a gunfight with BIFF bandits in the Liguasan Delta, near the group’s bomb-making facility destroyed by an airstrike before dawn Monday.

Gen. Cirilito Sobejana of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division said Tuesday Quitor and his companions were trying to locate at least six BIFF bandits injured in the airstrike when gunmen attacked them from one side of their route, sparking a gunfight.

Local executives and barangay leaders in towns along the Liguasan Delta have confirmed that four Asian foreigners were inside the BIFF’s makeshift storage for improvised explosives devices helicopter gunships flattened with rockets early Sunday.

Barangay officials, among them Moro datus supporting the government's campaign against the BIFF, said three of the more than 50 militants who traded shots with Quitor and his companions, identified only as Bundas, Kamid and Oruk, also got killed.

The incident preceded the foiled attempt, at past 8:00 p.m. Monday, by another group to surround a detachment of the Army’s 57th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Meta in Datu Unsay, Maguindanao.

Soldiers engaged the bandits, led by BIFF Commander Metin, in a running gunfight, killing three of them and wounding two more.

The slain followers of Metin were identified by local officials as Turman Aber, Mansur Mohammad and Kusid Laguiab, also known as Mamalu.

The attack was pulled off by Metin and his men less than a day after local officials warned of retaliations by the BIFF for losses it suffered in Monday’s Army operation in the Liguasan Delta.

The BIFF, who uses the Islamic State flag as revolutionary banner, is feared for its practice of venting ire on civilians to avenge deaths of members in encounters with government forces.

The group, which emerged in 2010, is blamed for all of the bombings in central Mindanao since, perpetrated by members trained in fabrication of IEDs by the slain Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, most known as Marwan.

It has also been trying to sabotage the peace process between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.