BIFF abducts, kills 2 farmers in Maguindanao town

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters militants executed two Teduray farmers and wounded two soldiers in separate attacks hours before a fatal bombing in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat on Sunday, authorities said.

The attacks earlier Sunday by the BIFF in Maguindanao began with the abduction and execution of two Teduray farmers, Nestor Daingan and Rene Usman, in a remote part of Datu Hoffer Ampatuan town in Maguindanao.

They were on their way to their farms when BIFF bandits led by Jai Abubakar and Boy Sarong flagged them down, hogtied and eventually shot them dead, authorities said.

Brig. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana of the Army's 6th Infantry Division said Monday that military intelligence agents are now helping the police build corresponding criminal cases against the killers.

Abubakar and Sarong are wanted for leading attacks on Teduray villages last year.

The two BIFF commanders and their followers then burned more than a dozen houses after owners fled to safer areas and carted away farm animals left by evacuees.

The BIFF operates in the fashion of the Islamic State and its leaders are mostly radical clerics who teach hatred of non-Muslims.

The brutal murder of the helpless Daingan and Usman preceded the BIFF's harassment of three detachments in nearby Datu Unsay town.

Two soldiers, 1Lt. Rey-Jay Ramos and Sgt. Jerry Nicor, were wounded while preventing gunmen from breaching their detachment's perimeter.

Residents said four BIFF bandits, identified only as Kemzar, Norodin, Bansil and Uruk, were wounded in the ensuing firefight.

Capt. Arvin Encinas, public affairs officer of 6th ID, said security has been tightened in public places in central Mindanao that are vulnerable to BIFF bomb attacks.

The group has a reputation for launching retaliatory attacks against civilians.

Units of the 6th ID have killed more than 30 BIFF bandits in encounters in far-flung Maguindanao towns in the past four months.

The bombing on Sunday night in Isulan happened just days after BIFF members set off an improvised explosive device in Barangay Kalawag in the same town, killing three and hurting more than 30 others.

The 6th ID and the Police Regional Office-12 said the BIFF is responsible for the two IED attacks.