Military expects BIFF to retaliate

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines - The military is anticipating retaliations by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) for the death of a close aide of the group’s founder during an encounter on Monday at the border of Datu Piang and Shariff Saidona towns.

The slain bandit, known for his alias “City Hunter,” was one of the five fatalities the BIFF suffered in a bungled attempt to drive away Army combatants from its former enclave in Barangay Ganta in Shariff Saidona, overran by government forces last January.

Local officials said City Hunter, an ethnic Maguindanaon, was the "right-hand-man" of the BIFF’s figurehead, the Saudi-trained preacher Ameril Ombra Kato.

Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman of the 6th Infantry Division, said also killed in the Army-BIFF encounters at Barangays Ganta and Damablas, in Datu Piang town, were four other bandits whom villagers identified as Driz Salik, Mashud Ali, Nur Hassan, and Mantawil Kaliga.

Hermoso said officers of Army units now running after the bandits that attacked the two barangays are still validating the veracity of reports that 12 other wounded bandits have died while being evacuated by their companions to different areas near the Liguasan Delta.

Hermoso has warned the public against diversionary attacks by the BIFF.

Marauding BIFF bandits attacked at about 9:30 p.m. Monday a militia detachment in Barangay Baliki in Midsayap town in North Cotabato, provoking a two-hour running firefight with members of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit, backed by community watchmen and armed peasants.

No one was reported killed or injured in the firefight but the incident caused panic among villagers, forcing them to relocate to nearby barangays for fear of getting trapped in the crossfire.