Troops foil bomb try in Maguindanao

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines – Tension gripped the town of Shariff Aguak Friday night when suspected members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) tried to set off a bomb near the municipal government compound.

Responding bomb experts defused the improvised explosive device (IED) fashioned from an anti-tank rocket and a fragmentation grenade that can be activated by a mobile phone.

Col. Jener del Rosario, commander of the Army’s 1st Mechanized Brigade, said the IED was packed with metal fragments and pieces of iron bars.

Army and police intelligence sources said the bomb attempt was BIFF’s retaliation for the capture of its alleged member, Datu Not Ali Sailila, by the military following an encounter in Rajah Buayan town on Friday morning.

Lt. Col. Donald Hongitan, commander of the Army’s 45th Infantry Battalion, said soldiers who arrested Sailila reportedly recovered five M-16 rifles and drug paraphernalia at the scene.

Hongitan said his men also found shabu in the suspect’s pockets.

Sailila, an alleged drug dealer, was placed under the custody of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Cotabato City.

The troops, along with elements of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and PDEA agents,  were reportedly conducting patrol when they encountered  an undetermined number of BIFF men led by a certain Commander Marrox in Barangay Sapakan.

The encounter followed a simultaneous attacks Thursday night by BIFF bandits on military detachments at the border of Datu Saudi and Datu Unsay towns, and around the provincial capitol in Shariff Aguak.

Three BIFF bandits were reportedly killed in the clashes.

Rajah Buayan Mayor Zamzamin Ampatuan, chairman of the municipal peace and order council, told journalists there is no BIFF camp in his town. – With Reinir Padua, Jaime Laude