2 killed in cross fire between Moro rebels and gov’t forces

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—Two civilians, one of them a child, were killed and three others wounded when a mortar shell fell and exploded in their boat as they were fleeing a battle between government forces and a group of Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in Pikit, North Cotabato on Friday.

Neither the military nor the rebels would admit that the mortar had come from them.

Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesperson of the Philippine Army 6th Infantry Division based in Maguindanao, identified the fatalities as Rayhana Acmad Malading, 11, and Kantoh Kaluidasan, 40.

Hermoso said the victims were on a boat when a mortar shell landed and exploded on it.

Teng Lidasan, barangay chair of Kabasalan, said three other people were wounded in the explosion.

“They were evacuating due to heavy fighting in their area when they were accidentally hit by mortar fire,” Lidasan said.

He said the victims were fleeing Kabasalan along with several dozen other people following an attack by some 50 BIFF gunmen on a military detachment there.

Hermoso said a BIFF member was killed in the clash.

He said the mortar shell that hit the victims came from the BIFF as the military never fired an artillery round during the clash.

Abu Misry Mama, BIFF spokesperson, admitted that the BIFF had attacked the Army position in Barangay Kabasalan but he disowned the death of the civilians.

“Maybe it was the Army that hit them,” he said in a telephone interview.

The BIFF, which broke away from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, has been carrying out attacks in Maguindanao to force the government to negotiate with the group, which is fighting for an independent Bangsamoro homeland.

“Even if it is just a single barangay,” Mama said in a previous interview.