MAGUINDANAO – Suspected rebels ambushed three soldiers on Tuesday in the town of Datu Piang in Maguindanao province in the troubled Muslim autonomous region in southern Philippines, officials said.
Officials said the attack killed an army major and two privates who were travelling in a car and their identities were withheld by the 6th Infantry Division.
The army quickly blamed the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in the ambush. The soldiers also lost their weapons to the rebels.
It was the second attack in recent days in Maguindanao when some 500 rebels also assaulted the detachment of the 45th Infantry Battalion in the village of Sapakan in Rajah Buayan town.
The attack sparked a six-hour firefight that wounded Corporal Charlie Dilangsoy, according to First Lieutenant Jethro Agbing, of the 45th Infantry Battalion.
He said troops under Second Lieutenant Mike Vergel Concepcion, and pro-government militias headed by Kagui Teng Lumenda repulsed the rebels.
It was unknown if there were casualties on the side of the BIFF.
“The 45th Infantry Battalion under Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Bautista III, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines as a whole, together with the support of the local populace, remain steadfast in maintaining peace and order to counter adverse intentions and future atrocities of the BIFF, and to give what the people of Maguindanao truly deserves, a harmonious and peaceful community free of elements who want to destroy the peace in Central Mindanao,” he said. (Mindanao Examiner – Rose Muneza and Ely Dumaboc)
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