18 killed in skirmishes with breakaway Moro rebels

Members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF). INQUIRER MINDANAO FILE PHOTO

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao, Philippines — At least 18 people were killed in fighting that followed near-simultaneous attacks by gunmen belonging to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in different parts of Maguindanao and North Cotabato on Monday, the military said here Tuesday.

Brigadier General Eduardo Pangilinan, commander of 6th Infantry Division based here, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that one soldier was among those killed.

Pangilinan said the clashes that erupted in the municipalities of Datu Piang and Shariff Saidona in Maguindanao spread to Midsayap in neighboring North Cotabato province late Monday.

“Seventeen were killed on the side of our enemy while we have one fatality,” he said.

Nine civilians were wounded in subsequent artillery fire by the military on positions of the BIFF, which attacked military outposts in Datu Piang and Shariff Saidona towns on Monday, the Humanitarian Emergency Action and Response Team (HEART) of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao reported on Tuesday.

In its report, the ARMM-Heart identified the nine civilians wounded in howitzer shelling as Kingao Omar, Muhamidin Omar, Saida Omar, Maxi Gumandal, Omi Akmad, Sadiya Akmad, Esmael Pendatun, Sandiali Guiamandal and Bohari Pirot, all from Barangay (village) Penditen in Datu Salibo town, also in Maguindanao.

The non-governmental organization Mindanao Human Rights Action Center said it received reports that 10 civilians were wounded by howtizer shells, including an unidentified victim in the village of Ganta in Shariff Saidona.

Bobby Benito, the human rights center’s director, also reported displacement of residents in the towns of Shariff Saidona and Datu Piang.

Abdulnasser Badrudin, head of the Maguindanao office of the ARMM’s Human Rights Commission, confirmed the displacements, adding that at least 335 families had left their homes in the wake of the clashes.

Pangilinan said he would not believe that civilians were injured by the military’s artillery.

“It’s impossible. The fighting scene is too far from that village where civilians were reportedly hit,” he said.

Colonel Dickson Hermoso, spokesperson of the military’s 6th Infantry Division, said the clashes erupted after BIFF rebels attacked the outposts of the 62nd Division Recon Company in Barangay Damabalas in Datu Piang town and the 61st Division Recon Company in Barangay Ganta in Shariff Saydona.

Hermoso said while the military got reports that 17 rebels had been killed, only five bodies had been recovered and identified as those of Dris Salik, Mashud Ali, Nur Hassan, Mantawil Kaliga and one “City Hunter,” an alleged top aide of BIFF leader Ameril Umra Kato.

“Verification as to the identities of another 12 BIFF members who perished in the ensuing firefights is ongoing with the help of barangay officials and Imams. They were hastily buried by their comrades,” Hermoso said.

Hermoso flatly denied reports that civilians were injured in subsequent military shelling of rebel positions.

“We know that we have not wounded civilians because the initiative of the attack came from the BIFF,” Hermoso said, adding the military was certain that a lot of BIFF rebels had been killed.

Abu Misry Mama, BIFF spokesperson, said only four BIFF gunmen were “martyred.”

“Only four have died. We would never lie about our casualties because it is an honor to die as a mujahideen. If only the dead can talk they will talk,” Mama said by phone.

Mama also justified Monday’s attacks as retaliation for the July 3 abduction of a Mohammad Abdulkarim and his 14-year-old son, Mehad Mohammad, in Shariff Aguak.

Minhra’s Benito said it got a similar report and added that the victims were on a motorcycle when taken at gunpoint by alleged soldiers.

“Relatives tried to search for the victims at the military detachment but the soldiers on duty reportedly said that the victims were already released,” Benito said.

Hermoso said the abduction claim was just the BIFF’s “strategic shift to propaganda.”

Told that NGOs had reported abduction, Hermoso said the military would investigate it. But even then, he said, “I assure the public soldiers are not involved and it’s not our policy.”

In Sultan Kudarat province, which is adjacent to Maguindanao, police said they could not establish any link yet between the discovery of an improvised explosive device in President Quirino town and the Maguindanao violence.

The IED, fashioned from an 81-millimeter mortar shell fitted with a mobile phone as remote detonating device, was discovered by a duck raiser around 8:20 a.m., according to Barangay Katico village chairman Sancho Salamanca. With reports from Edwin Fernandez and Williamor Magbanua, Inquirer Mindanao 

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