19 BIFF members including child combatants killed in clash with soldiers

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines - Soldiers killed 19 members of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in the second day of military operations aimed at arresting senior leaders of the notorious group.

Local officials in North Cotabato’s adjoining Pikit and Midsayap towns, and in Datu Piang, in Saidona Mustapha, and in Sultan sa Barongis municipalities, all in Maguindanao have confirmed that 19 bandits have been killed in a series of encounters with soldiers at marshlands at the border of the two provinces.

“Seven of the fatalities were killed when 105 Howitzer shells landed near them while they were trading shots with soldiers approaching their lairs along a river in Datu Piang,” said one of the local officials, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals.

Two BIFF bandits were killed and three others were wounded in firefights at a swampy area near Paidu Pulangi in Pikit, in the southwest of North Cotabato, according to Barangay officials.

Police intelligence sources said some of the BIFF fatalities were adolescents the BIFF recruited as child combatants, in total disregard of international humanitarian laws that ban the enlistment of children for warfare.

The Humanitarian Emergency Assistance and Relief Team (HEART) of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao dispatched on Tuesday relief and rehabilitation experts to Datu Piang and nearby Sultan sa Barongis and Mamasapano towns to assess the extent of the dislocation of local folks due to hostilities.

ARMM’s regional executive secretary, Laisa Alamia, said the HEART is now preparing to ship relief supplies, including food packs and other non-food provisions, to evacuation sites in the affected towns.

Local officials in Maguindanao and North Cotabato said there are now more than 10,000 villagers in makeshift relief sites, driven away from their homes by the BIFF-military encounters that started Monday dawn.