7 BIFF men slain in Maguindanao clash with MILF

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Seven members of the Dawlah Islamiya or Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), who allegedly planned to attack an Army detachment, were killed in a gunfight with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) men  in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on Tuesday.

More than 30 BIFF bandits were in light trucks and motorcycles on their way to Barangay Tuka, where a detachment of the Army’s 33rd Infantry Battalion is located, when they were intercepted.

Maj. Gen. Juvymax Uy of the 6th Infantry Division said MILF men led by Samad Simpal blocked the convoy at the border of Shariff Aguak and Shariff Saidona Mustapha.

“The terror plot was foiled by our friends in the MILF,” Uy told reporters.

The government and MILF are bound by agreements to cooperate in addressing security issues in potential conflict areas in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Uy said the fatalities were followers of a certain Motorola, a henchman of Iman Karialan, leader of one of the three factions of the Dawlah Islamiya.

Karialan was tagged in recent bombings in Central Mindanao.

Uy said local officials and MILF commanders in Shariff Saidona Mustapha and Mamasapano have been alerted against possible retaliatory attacks.