MAGUINDANAO – At least 9 soldiers were wounded in fierce clashes Friday afternoon with Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in Maguindanao province in the troubled Muslim autonomous region in southern Philippines, officials said.
Officials said the soldiers were evacuated to hospital, but details of the fighting remains unclear, although security forces were sent to pursue the rebels in the province.
The clashes erupted hours after troops captured four rebels and two BIFF camps in the village of Liab in Maguindanao’s Datu Piang town, according to Capt. Jo-ann Petinglay, a spokeswoman for the 6th Infantry Division.
She also identified the captured rebels as Aladin Panaydan, 22; Daud Balogat, 23; Ebrahim Oraw, 40; and Abdul Madalidaw, 33.
Petinglay said troops recovered one .45-caliber pistol, one Thompson sub-machine gun and assorted materials used in the manufacture of improvised explosives, including four cell phones from the rebels.
“The capture of the BIFF camps only proves that it is being used in the manufacture of improvised explosives,” Petinglay quoted General Edmundo Pangilinan, commander of the 6th Infantry Division, as saying.
Petinglay said the rebels were sent to hospital for a routine medical examination before being handed over to the police for interrogation.
The BIFF, a breakaway group of the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front which signed a peace deal with Manila, is fighting for Muslim independence in the restive South. (Mindanao Examiner)
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