MAGUINDANAO – Government soldiers killed two separatist rebels in a firefight that erupted Wednesday afternoon in Datu Unsay town in Maguindanao province in southern Philippines, officials said.
Capt. Jo Ann Petinglay, a spokeswoman for the 6th Infantry Division, said troops were patrolling the village of Maitumaig when two motorcycle gunmen opened fire on them and sparking a firefight that killed the attackers, who were members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
She said another group of gunmen, who were backing those slain, also attacked the soldiers, but fled when more troops and policemen engaged them in a running gunbattle that lasted about 15 minutes. There were no reports of casualties on the side of the soldiers, who are members of the 45th Infantry Battalion.
Petinglay said one of those slain in the fighting was among those who killed two army soldiers guarding the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center in Cotabato City on October 22. Troops also recovered a .45-caliber pistol and fragmentation grenade from the slain gunmen.
“We handed over the cadavers to the local police force. Our troops are continually conducting visibility and security patrols along the national highway in order to pre-empt any attempt by lawless groups to sow terror among civilians and the community,” she said.
She said military forces are deployed in Maguindanao – one of five provinces under the restive Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao – to help secure the province from threats of attacks by rebels.
“We are supporting the police authorities in maintaining peace and order to protect the safety of the civilians, and to guard major thoroughfares against lawless elements and terror groups,” Petinglay said.
Just last month, policemen, backed by government soldiers, also captured a BIFF rebel Zainudin Kawilan – in the remote village of Timbangan in Maguindanao’s Shariff Aguak town – who was also tagged as behind the killing of the soldiers in the hospital.
Troops from the 45th Infantry Battalion headed by Lt. Col. Romeo Bautista also recovered a shot gun, a 60 millimeter mortar bomb and a fragmentation grenade from Kawilan’s hideout.
Officials said Kawilan was a follower of BIFF commander Sukarno Sapal and had been tagged as one of the killers of the two soldiers. Kawilan and two other men, who pretended to visit a patient at the hospital, grabbed the rifle of the soldier and shot them. (Mindanao Examiner – With a report from Mark Navales and Rose Muneza.)
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