27 cops killed in BIFF clash

5 bandits slain; 8 cops taken  

MAGUINDANAO,  – At least 27 members of the elite police Special Action Force (SAF) were reported killed and eight captured in clashes yesterday with the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in this province.

Local officials confirmed the police fatalities in the clashes that also left five BIFF members dead.

The SAF members were reportedly searching for foreign-trained bombers in Tukanalipao district west of Mamasapano town when the BIFF militants attacked from several directions, precipitating a running gun battle.

The bandits reportedly took with them the firearms of the slain policemen as they retreated to the border of Mamasapano and Datu Salibo town also in this province.

The encounter occurred two days after a car bomb attack in Zamboanga City killed two persons and wounded 54 others. No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Capt. Jo-Ann Petinglay, public affairs chief of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, confirmed yesterday’s encounter.

Local officials in the neighboring Mamasapano, Shariff Aguak, Datu Abdullah Sangki and Datu Piang towns said more than 27 policemen were reported killed in the firefight.

A municipal councilor, who asked not to be identified, told reporters that security forces were still trying to extricate the slain policemen from the site last night.

“It was a police operation. There was no coordination with our troops on the ground,” Petinglay said.

A senior official of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Von Al Haq, said their central committee also received information from MILF commanders in Mamasapano and nearby towns that 27 SAF members were killed in encounters with BIFF guerrillas.

Al-Haq, also spokesman for the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces, said eight policemen were captured by BIFF members and were being held in a marshland not far from the town proper of Mamasapano.

The BIFF is a breakaway group of the MILF and opposes the peace process.

A senior police officer in Maguindanao, who asked not to be identified for lack of authority to speak about the incident, said more than 30 policemen were killed in the encounters.

Petinglay said the SAF contingent that figured in the encounter were in Mamasapano to search for Malaysian bomb expert Zulkifli bin Hir, also known as Marwan, who is reportedly being protected by the BIFF.

Al-Haq said the SAF men were also searching for Basit Usman, who underwent training in bomb making in Peshawar, Pakistan and Kandahar, Afghanistan in the late 1980s.

The policemen were trapped and ran out of ammunition during the firefight, another police officer said.