Soldier dead, 3 wounded in BIFF roadside bombing

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines– A soldier was killed while three others, including a lieutenant, were critically wounded on Thursday when Bangsamo-ro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) bandits set off a roadside bomb on a secluded stretch of a farm-to-market road in Datu Unsay town here.

The victims, who belong to the Army’s 45th Infantry Battalion, were on their way to their headquarters in a nearby town from a humanitarian outreach mission in a Teduray village in Datu Unsay when the bandits set off the improvised explosive as the truck carrying them passed by.

Lt. Col. Donald Hongitan, 45th IB commanding officer,  said Pfc. Jesus Tabije died from multiple shrapnel wounds. Wounded were 1Lt. Lemuel Manicdo, Sgt. Pio Himoldang, and Cpl. Joel Canceran.

Responding Army ordnance experts said the bomb was set off from a distance using a mobile phone.

The explosion was so powerful that it crippled the light truck carrying the soldiers. 

Last month, two soldiers were killed while five others were wounded in a roadside bombing in Barangay Meta, also in Datu Unsay.

Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the BIFF retaliated for the heavy losses it suffered in recent military operations with the government gaining control of its main enclave in Barangay Ganta at the boundary of Maguindanao’s Datu Piang and Saidona Mustapha towns. – John Unson, Jaime Laude