2 BIFF members suspected of spying for authorities shot dead by companions

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Alleged members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters killed in an ambush Friday in Maguindanao del Sur two companions suspected of spying for the police and military.

Kamad Tangkile and Hamad Tangkile, a minor, were riding a motorcycle together when men positioned along a road in Barangay Pamalian in Shariff Saidona Mustapha town in Maguindanao del Sur shot them with assault rifles.

The local police, in a report Saturday to the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said the victims were members of the outlawed BIFF, fashioned from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and tagged in all bombings in central Mindanao since 2014.

Police Brig. Gen. John Guyguyon, director of PRO-BAR, and Army Major Gen. Alex Rillera, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, separately told reporters Saturday local leaders have reported that the duo was killed by companions on suspicions they were providing the police and military with information about their movements in isolated barangays in different towns.

Guyguyon said he has directed the Maguindanao Provincial Police Office to guard against possible hostilities between the clans of the slain BIFF members and their killers.