Military attacks BIFF lairs

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao, Philippines –The military on Sunday fired cannons on the suspected lairs of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) at the border of Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat.

Members of the Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion, led by Lt. Col. Markton Abo, also launched a ground offensive against the BIFF in retaliation for the bandit group’s attacks on military detachments in President Quirino town in Sultan Kudarat and in Gen. S.K. Pendatun, Maguindanao last Wednesday.

A soldier was killed and three others were wounded in the BIFF attack.

BIFF bandits reportedly frequented agricultural settlements along the Liguasan Delta to collect “zakat” (alms) to sustain their need for food and ammunition.

Maj. Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said their actions against the BIFF were coordinated with the joint ceasefire committee of the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Abo, in a report to Pangilinan yesterday, said intelligence operatives have uncovered a plot by the BIFF to launch more attacks to intimidate villagers.