Military expects more BIFF attacks in Central Mindanao

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The military is anticipating more attacks by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) after a rampage in two Central Mindanao towns Thursday that left seven farmers dead and displaced hundreds of innocent villagers.

Highly-placed Army intelligence sources on Friday told The STAR military units are now closely monitoring isolated barangays in Midsayap and Aleosan towns, both in North Cotabato, due to mounting threats of attacks.

Army officials in the two towns have confirmed receiving text messages from beleaguered barangay officials, warning of possible BIFF attacks soon in retaliation for the deaths of four bandits in an encounter with soldiers last Thursday in Datu Abdullah Sangki town in Maguindanao.

The Army’s 602nd Brigade and its component battalions in North Cotabato have enlisted the help of local officials and religious leaders in Aleosan and Midsayap in guarding against movements of the BIFF in the two towns.

BIFF gunmen attacked a detachment of the Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion (IB) in Datu Abdullah Sangki before dawn Thursday, provoking a firefight that lasted for more than an hour.

Another group of bandits also harassed an hour later a peasant enclave in nearby Ampatuan town, also in Maguindanao, killing five unarmed farmers on their way to their farms.

The bandits appeared from one side of the road and opened fire at the victims, who were carrying knapsack sprayers and farming tools.

About 30 minutes later, BIFF bandits shot dead two more farmers in a secluded barangay in Esperanza town in Sultan Kudarat province, not far from where the five farmers were killed haplessly.

The commanding officer of the 33rd IB, Lt. Col. Ricky Bunayog, and local officials in Datu Abdullah Sangki said villagers saw fleeing bandits carry four dead companions as they fled after attacking a military detachment in west of the municipality just before sunrise Thursday.

Three BIFF bandits, initially identified only as Salik, Tato and Tangan, were shot and wounded by responding soldiers from nearby detachments also in Datu Abdullah Sangki.

The spokesperson of the brigand BIFF, Abu Misry Mama, said their forces perpetrated the attacks to disprove assertions they have been weakened tactically by military offensives from February 28 to May 3 this year in Maguindanao.