2 SOLDIERS DIE IN AFP-BIFF 3-DAY CLASH IN MIDSAYAP

By: Dennis Arcon and Jaime Sinapit, InterAksyon.com

(UPDATE 2 – 3:46 p.m.) COTABATO CITY, Philippines – Two Army soldiers were killed and 6 others were injured while at least 10 rebels died, with an undetermined number of their comrades wounded in a series of firefights between elements of the Philippine Army and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) that started Wednesday evening in Barangay Palongoque, Midsayap, North Cotabato.

“In the conduct of pursuit operations, we engaged them (BIFF rebels) at around 6:40 a.m. Thursday, where we suffered two killed soldiers and six wounded. On the enemy side, they suffered 10 killed and an undetermined wounded,” Maj. Gen Edmund Pangilinan, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said by telephone.

Before the fierce encounter, at least two groups of BIFF rebels reportedly swooped down on a detachment of the Army’s 40th Infantry Battalion, firing round after round of rifle grenades and M203 grenade launchers from different directions.

After less than hour of harassing the Army camp, the rebels withdrew, which prompted the government soldiers to launch their counter-attack that led to almost an hour of firefight before the rebels withdrew in groups toward different directions.

The fighting that broke out early Thursday morning in Sitio Macabinbin, Barangay Polonguguen, sendt at least 300 families away from the village seeking safety at Bual Elementary School.

The Midsayap Social Welfare Office said another 200 families have also fled Barangay Malinao.

BIFF spokesman Abu Misri Mama has confirmed that their fighters were behind the attacks but said these had nothing to do with the formal turnover to Congress of the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law on Wednesday.

The BIFF, which persists in the quest for an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines, broke off from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has signed a peace agreement with the government after dropping its secessionist ambitions for a self-governed autonomous region.

However, Misri Mama said only one of their fighters has been wounded in the fighting, which he and 6th ID spokesman Colonel Dickson Hermoso confirmed is continuing as of this posting.