Army recovers BIFF firearms

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - Army combatants on Wednesday recovered firearms inside an overhead bunker bandits abandoned after a firefight along a nearby stretch of a national highway in Datu Anggal, Maguindanao.

Members of the Army’s 1st Mechanized Brigade found two M16 assault rifles, a shotgun, a B-40 anti-tank rocket, a 9-millimeter machine pistol and a .45 caliber handgun neatly piled in the bunker owned by the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

The bunker, located atop a hill overlooking a highway in Barangay Mapayag in Datu Anggal, was discovered by soldiers pursuing BIFF bandits that first attacked them while patrolling in the area.

Captain Jo-Ann Petinglay, spokesperson of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said no one from the military team the BIFF ambushed was hurt in the ensuing firefight.

Petinglay said they have been receiving feedback from villagers that some of the ambushers were wounded in the clash.

“But that is something we can’t confirm because we don’t have actual `body count’ of slain or wounded enemies,” Petinglay said.