Soldier, 4 BIFF members killed in Maguindanao clash

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao - A soldier and four bandits were killed in the latest clashes between soldiers and marauding members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

The hostilities at the border of Salibo and Datu Piang towns in the second district of Maguindanao erupted late Wednesday when BIFF bandits opened fire on members of a Reconnaissance Company of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division (ID), sent to help drive away marauding BIFF gunmen.

Captain Joann Petinglay, spokesperson of the Army’s 6th ID, said a member of the elite rapid deployment reconnaissance company was killed in the ensuing firefight.

She declined to identify the slain soldier pending notification of immediate family.

Four bandits were killed in the firefights, two of them initially identified only as Ahmed and Sangid.

Soldiers and BIFF bandits have been trading shots in one encounter after another since last weekend, sparked by an attack on a flood control project site in west of Salibo.

The 6th ID is bracing for retaliations by the BIFF for its loses in encounters this week with the military and for the arrest of its senior leader in Cotabato City on Wednesday.

The initial Army-BIFF encounters started over the weekend when bandits attacked a government project site in Salibo town and shot heavy equipment being used in constructing a flood control facility with assault rifles and shoulder-fire grenades.

Local officials said there were talks spreading around purporting that the BIFF had asked for “protection money” from the project contractor prior to the attack.