Troops clear highway occupied by BIFF bandits

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - After three hours of counter-offensive operations, government troops successfully restored the flow of traffic on the Cotabato-Gen. Santos Highway, which a huge force of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) occupied on Friday.

Two combatants of the 6th Marine Battalion Landing Team, which helped drive the BIFF bandits away, were slightly wounded in the military counter-offensive.

The wounded Marines were initially identified only as Staff Sgt. Blas and Cpl. Fuentes of the 36th and 26th Marine Companies, respectively.

The hostilities at peasant enclaves along portions of the highway in Maguindanao’s adjoining Datu Saudi and Datu Unsay towns, common strongholds of the BIFF and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), erupted when the bandits appeared from hinterlands, as if preparing for attacks.

The brigand BIFF forces also blocked stretches of the highway, disrupting the flow of traffic, stranding dozens of private and passenger vehicles.

The BIFF’s incursions along the highway also caused the dislocation of hundreds of ethnic Maguindanaon families, now confined in makeshift relief sites.

Captain Jo-Ann Petinglay, spokesperson of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the flow of traffic at the highway resumed at exactly 3:00 p.m. Friday.

Evacuees said the bandits first traded shots with advancing soldiers, but eventually all ran away after sensing that Army and Marine combatants, backed by Simba and V-300 combat vehicles, have started closing in.

Six bandits were reportedly killed in the ensuing encounter, which waned immediately after soldiers fired mortars at enemy positions, forcing them to scamper way.

Abu Misry Mama, spokesman of the BIFF, was quick to refute the reports of barangay folks that they lost six members in the skirmishes.

Residents said four wounded BIFF gunmen were seen being carried away from the scene by their companions.

A 45-year-old peasant, Mosani Laguindal, said the wounded bandits were all adolescents.

“One of them looked dead. His hair was so straight and his tongue dangled from his mouth as if he died of extreme fright,” Laguindal said in the Maguindanaon vernacular.

Petinglay said the military’s “law enforcement operation” against the BIFF will continue unless put to a halt by the General Headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Camp Aguinaldo.