ANOTHER camp of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in Maguindanao fell to government forces in the continuing operation by Army troops against the lawless group and the bandit group Abu Sayyaf.
Army troops seized the camp at Sitio Tatapan, Barangay Kitango, Datu Saudi Ampatuan, as two soldiers identified as Cpl. Nelger Pinero and Pfc. Jamalil Bolaybolay, were reported killed in an ambush in Buldon, also in the province.
The two soldiers, members of the Army’s 37th Infantry Battalion, were on their way to a store, when they were waylaid by armed men whom the military suspects, were BIFF gunmen. The attackers took the soldiers’ firearms.
Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc, Armed Forces Public Affairs Office chief, said soldiers captured the BIFF’s second camp after a clash on Monday with the group, wherein firearms’ components and assorted ammunition were recovered.
Several documents detailing the group’s plan to bomb several areas, including places of convergence in Maguindanao and other parts of Central Mindanao was also recovered. On Sunday troops from the 601st Infantry Brigade captured a BIFF camp and discovered the group’s bomb factory.
The operation was ordered as a result of the displacement of more than 25, 000 residents in at least six barangays in Pikit, North Cotabato, after two commanders of the BIFF and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and their followers clashed at Barangay Kabasalan, Pikit.
The two commanders—Kagi Karialan of the BIFF and Jack Abbas of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front—were involved in a clan war or rido, the military claimed.
Col. Melquiades Feliciano, 601Bde commander, said the camp, has 18 shanties and semi-concrete houses, was in a 3-hectare area near a marshland at Barangay Dasikil, Mamasapano, Maguindanao.
Feliciano identified Mohammad Tambako as the leader of the BIFF forces occupying the encampment.
Tambako had been tagged as the coddler of bomb expert Abdul Basit Usman, who escaped from the operation that was carried out by members of the National Police Special Action Force on January 25 in Mamasapano, but got Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan.
Usman carries a $1-million reward from the US government for his arrest.
The operation against the BIFF was simultaneously being carried out against the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu, following the spike in cases of kidnapping in the province.
Two soldiers and at least 25 bandits have been killed in the ongoing operation in Sulu.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) meanwhile, appealed to combatants in Central Mindanao to respect human life as it also urged Filipino authorities to safeguard civilians and their property as pocket and sporadic fighting escalate in the area.
The Geneva, Switzerland-headquartered ICRC corroborated local monitoring reports that “thousands have fled their homes as fighting between government security forces and armed groups escalates in Maguindanao province, in central Mindanao.”
It warned that “the number of displaced people is rising.”
“Entire communities from villages in Kalbugan and Buliok, in Maguindanao, displaced by a range of clashes in early February, fear returning to their homes owing to the risk of explosive devices and the general uncertainty of the situation,” it said in a statement.
Pascal Mauchle, head of the ICRC’s delegation in the Philippines, said that “displacement, especially when it’s prolonged and repeated, uproots people from their normal lives and causes untold suffering.”
“These families need food, clean water and access to sanitation,” he said.
It said it would like to remind all parties to the fighting to respect human life and dignity.
“Civilians and civilian property—such as houses, agricultural land, water-supply lines and health-care facilities—must be safeguarded. All injured or sick people—regardless of their religion, ethnic group, gender or political beliefs—must receive medical treatment appropriate to their condition.”
It said it was working closely with the Philippine Red Cross “to deliver relief, such as food and hygiene items, last week to some 20,000 people in North Cotabato and Maguindanao; and began providing drinking water daily in two evacuation centers.”
(With Manuel Cayon)