MAGUINDANAO, Philippines – Two Army soldiers were killed by suspected members of the bandit group Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in a church in Datu Piang town Tuesday.
Pfcs. Rex Limpahan, 23, and Edward Nick Baes were unarmed and in civilian clothes when they were attacked, said Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division (ID).
The soldiers had just come out of the St. Therese Church when two motorcycle-riding men shot them.
“The murder of the two unarmed soldiers is against international warfare rules,” Hermoso said.
The slain soldiers belong to the 6th ID’s 62nd Division Reconnaissance Company, which figured in a series of encounters with BIFF forces in Datu Piang and Shariff Saidona towns from January to August this year.
Sources from Datu Piang’s peace and order council said five other BIFF bandits acted as lookouts as the gunmen shot Limpahan and Baes.