AFP says 52 rebels dead in clashes with gov’t troops

MANILA, Philippines - Sporadic clashes between government forces and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) have left 52 rebels dead and displaced around 7,000 civilians in Maguindanao.

Maj. Dante Gania, public affairs officer of the Army’s 6th Division, said the troops are continuously conducting clearing operations in the area as part of law enforcement that started last Monday.

“They already suffered 52 (fatalities), 19 of whom were identified,” Gania said. “For now, our law enforcement operations are doing good.”

Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said troops recovered a dozen firearms left behind by the bandits with some of their dead.

Hermoso said 20 of the 52 bandits killed in the clashes since Monday had been identified by local officials.

A soldier was killed while 13 other enlisted Army personnel were wounded in the ensuing firefights with BIFF gunmen since Monday.

“Some of the BIFF fatalities were adolescents the group had recruited for warfare purposes,” Hermoso said.

Local officials in Datu Piang, where the fiercest clashes between government troops and rebels occurred in the past five days, said the bandits have abandoned their lairs in several villages in the town and some in the Liguasan Marsh in the provinces of Maguindanao and North Cotabato.

The guns in Datu Piang and its surrounding villages have been silent since Friday, but troops remained on alert to prevent the BIFF from regrouping for a counterattack.

“We’re also guarding stretches of highways and farming villages in the surroundings which they can subject to diversionary attacks,” Hermoso said.

Gania said thousands of villagers were forced to flee the clashes.

“More or less 7,000 (individuals) are being taken care of by the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development),” he said.

Gania said proper coordination was made with local authorities to facilitate the evacuation.

Military operations are still being conducted in Shariff Saydona, Datu Piang and Raja Buayan towns, he added.

Valenzuela Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian appealed to the DSWD to send in support teams to help the hundreds of families displaced by the ongoing hostilities in Maguindanao.

Gatchalian said close to a thousand families are caught in the crossfire between government forces and the BIFF. – With John Unson, Paolo Romero