Soldiers clash with BIFF rebels in N. Cotabato

MANILA, Philippines - Fighting broke out yesterday between government security forces and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Figthers  (BIFF) rebels along the boundary of Pikit and Aleosan towns in North Cotabato, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) said.

Absalom Cerveza, MNLF spokesman, said the MNLF commanders reported the rebels fired a mortar against the soldiers. He said the fighting was ongoing as of yesterday morning.

“We have no report of any casualties, but the BIFF in North Cotabato are massing along Aleosan and Pikit towns to counter the military offensive,” he said.

The firefight he said started three days ago in Pikit town and has prompted residents to flee to makeshift evacuation sites.

Cerveza expressed concern that the offensive, which is concentrated in BIFF camps, may spill over to MNLF camps in the area, if they would not follow a directive of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to raise the Philippine flags at their camps.

He said the order to raise the flag could result in a major military operation against MNLF camps in Mindanao and Sulu.

“MNLF commanders were told to stay in their camps to avoid being caught in the crossfire,” Cerveza said.

3 hurt in BIFF attack

Meanwhile, three civilians were wounded when BIFF rebels stormed a village in Pikit before midnight last Friday.

Couple Raul and Rosalinda Sahid, and their five-year-old grandson, Clark Joseph Pineda, were wounded when a rebel fired a grenade as they were fleeing their village. They were rushed to a hospital for treatment.

Two evacuees, Rayhana Acmad and Kantoh Saguidasan, were killed in an attack on another village before dawn Wednesday.

Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division (ID), said the bandits launched more attacks Thursday to stop a military operation being conducted at the border of Pikit and Datu Piang towns in Maguindanao.

Inspector Sindato Karim, chief of the Pikit police, said some 500 displaced families are sheltered in makeshift relief sites in the villages of Kabasalan and Bulol.

Local officials said the rebels were led by two clerics they identified as Karialan and Tambako, both henchmen of BIFF founder Ameril Ombra Kato.

Troops from the Army’s 7th Infantry Battalion fired cannons at the bandits to prevent them from getting through the center of the villages.

North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza said relief workers have been dispatched to assist the evacuees. – With John Unson