BIFM attacks in Maguindanao recounted
NATION PAGE, philSTAR (www.philstar.com) August 13, 2012 05:21 PM 0 comment to this post
COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement bandits gunned down two security guards and an Army intelligence agent in separate attacks the past two days in two more Maguindanao towns that also left five others wounded.
Datu Genuine Kamaong, acting mayor of Maguindanao’s Datu Piang town, said the bandits first surrounded Barangay Magaslong, not far from their municipal center, and opened fire with rifles and grenades.
The attack forced hundreds of ethnic Maguindanaon families to evacuate to safer areas for fear of their lives.
Kamaong said a 40-year-old civilian named Umbak Sapan was wounded in the shooting, which triggered a firefight between the bandits and combined soldiers and militiamen.
The incident caused the closure of the only highway linking Datu Piang, formerly named Dulawan, a centuries-old Moro settlement that became a chartered municipality before World War II, to major thoroughfares linking the area to Cotabato City and nearby provinces in Administrative Region 12.
“We were forced to evacuate the wounded civilian to Midsayap, North Cotabato via a river because the highway was closed so we (couldn't) bring the victim to a hospital by means of an overland travel,” Kamaong said.
The attack came after suspected BIFM members wearing black ski masks raided a safe house also in Barangay Magaslong of an Army intelligence team under the 45th Infantry Battalion.
Combatants of the 45th IB led efforts to drive away hundreds of bandits that raided and plundered villages in Maguindanao’s adjoining Shariff Aguak, Datu Unsay, Datu Saudi, Datu Hofer and Guindulungan towns in a spate of attacks that began August 5 and waned only after five days.
The bandits, coming from various directions, barged into the agents’ hideout and opened fire, killing Pfc. Roger Warde on the spot and wounding his companion, Cpl. Edison Medina.
Medina and other Army agents inside the safe house escaped by jumping out through open windows after sensing that they were outnumbered.
The attacks in Datu Piang was followed by the BIFM’s ambush in Barangay Alip in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao of a group of security guards escorting a convoy of trailer trucks carrying vans filled with Cavendish bananas for export to the Middle East and China.
The ambushers, positioned at one side of the highway, opened fire at the vehicle carrying the security guards, killing two of them instantly and wounding three others.
The fatalities, Deodemar Barbosa and Moises Catalan, who were employees of the Columbia Security Agency, which secures the Alip River Development Export Corp. in Datu Paglas.
The chief of the private security group guarding the banana plantation, Rogelio Ladio, and three farm workers, Ronald Benzon, Allan Tanalgo and Carlos Chavez, were wounded in the attack.
The area where the BIFM pulled off the ambush is not far from Buluan, the hometown of Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo issued last week a “show cause order” to the mayors of the five Maguindanao towns the BIFM attacked last week, asking them to explain why they should not be charged with dereliction of duties owing to reports they were out of their offices during the rebel incursions. - John Unson
COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement bandits gunned down two security guards and an Army intelligence agent in separate attacks the past two days in two more Maguindanao towns that also left five others wounded.
Datu Genuine Kamaong, acting mayor of Maguindanao’s Datu Piang town, said the bandits first surrounded Barangay Magaslong, not far from their municipal center, and opened fire with rifles and grenades.
The attack forced hundreds of ethnic Maguindanaon families to evacuate to safer areas for fear of their lives.
Kamaong said a 40-year-old civilian named Umbak Sapan was wounded in the shooting, which triggered a firefight between the bandits and combined soldiers and militiamen.
The incident caused the closure of the only highway linking Datu Piang, formerly named Dulawan, a centuries-old Moro settlement that became a chartered municipality before World War II, to major thoroughfares linking the area to Cotabato City and nearby provinces in Administrative Region 12.
“We were forced to evacuate the wounded civilian to Midsayap, North Cotabato via a river because the highway was closed so we (couldn't) bring the victim to a hospital by means of an overland travel,” Kamaong said.
The attack came after suspected BIFM members wearing black ski masks raided a safe house also in Barangay Magaslong of an Army intelligence team under the 45th Infantry Battalion.
Combatants of the 45th IB led efforts to drive away hundreds of bandits that raided and plundered villages in Maguindanao’s adjoining Shariff Aguak, Datu Unsay, Datu Saudi, Datu Hofer and Guindulungan towns in a spate of attacks that began August 5 and waned only after five days.
The bandits, coming from various directions, barged into the agents’ hideout and opened fire, killing Pfc. Roger Warde on the spot and wounding his companion, Cpl. Edison Medina.
Medina and other Army agents inside the safe house escaped by jumping out through open windows after sensing that they were outnumbered.
The attacks in Datu Piang was followed by the BIFM’s ambush in Barangay Alip in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao of a group of security guards escorting a convoy of trailer trucks carrying vans filled with Cavendish bananas for export to the Middle East and China.
The ambushers, positioned at one side of the highway, opened fire at the vehicle carrying the security guards, killing two of them instantly and wounding three others.
The fatalities, Deodemar Barbosa and Moises Catalan, who were employees of the Columbia Security Agency, which secures the Alip River Development Export Corp. in Datu Paglas.
The chief of the private security group guarding the banana plantation, Rogelio Ladio, and three farm workers, Ronald Benzon, Allan Tanalgo and Carlos Chavez, were wounded in the attack.
The area where the BIFM pulled off the ambush is not far from Buluan, the hometown of Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo issued last week a “show cause order” to the mayors of the five Maguindanao towns the BIFM attacked last week, asking them to explain why they should not be charged with dereliction of duties owing to reports they were out of their offices during the rebel incursions. - John Unson
from: John Felix Miciano Unson journjohn@gmail.com
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