Rebels attack barangay in Saidona, retaliate for death of kin

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines  ---- Moro rebels on Tuesday fired anti-tank rockets and assault rifles on a village where the suspects in Monday’s murder in Shariff Aguak town of a 15-year-old kin reside, causing panic and forcing dozens of families to flee.

Police and military sources have confirmed that the attack at Barangay Dalimbong in Saidona municipality was an apparent retaliation for the death of a high school student killed by motorcycle-riding gunmen in nearby Shariff Aguak.

More than a dozen houses have also been reportedly burned down as the hostilities in Barangay Dalimbong ensued.

"We received reports about those arson attacks and those are being investigated now. Let's wait for the outcome of the investigation. We're not pointing an accusing finger, as of the moment, to any group," said Col. Dickson Hermoso, public affairs chief of the Army's 6th Infantry Division.

The suspects that gunned down the high school student last Monday also shot and wounded the victim’s classmate, who is now undergoing medication at a hospital.

The victims were walking along a stretch of a highway when their attackers, riding a motorcycle together, blocked their path and shot them with .45 caliber pistols.

The 6th ID, citing initial feedback from Army units based in Saidona, said two rebel commanders related to the slain student, Emram and Rasul, both of the 118th Base Command of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, led the attack after learning that the culprits reside in Barangay Dalimbong.

Relatives of the suspects engaged the groups of Emran and Rasul, sparking a 30-minute firefight.

Local officials said no one was reported killed or wounded in the encounter, but the incident forced several families to relocate to other areas.

The firefight in Barangay Dalimbong, which waned only after local officials and religious leaders intervened, was preceded by a series of skirmishes in nearby Barangay Kabingi, Datu Saudi between combatants of the Army’s 1st Mechanized Brigade and marauding bandits belonging to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

The encounters were provoked by the bandits’ having shot  several houses in corn farms around Barangay Kabingi, whose owners have refused to pay “protection money”.

Barangay officials said soldiers have wounded three BIFF members in the series of encounters that erupted as they were patrolling in hinterlands around Barangay Kabingi the outlawed group use as springboards for its attacks on villages in Datu Saudi town.  - John Unson