Soldier, 4 Biff fighters slain in fresh Mamasapano encounter

By FROILAN GALLARDO
Special Correspondent .

A LAW-ENFORCEMENT operation to arrest one of the leaders of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (Biff) turned bloody after the rebels and their allies fought back in Mamasapano, Maguindanao last weekend. At least five people were killed.

Armed Forces Western Command spokesperson Maj. Arvin Encinas said the fighting raged the entire Saturday resulting in the death of an Army soldier. Two others were wounded.

He said four members of the Biff faction led by Ismael Abubakar a.k.a. Imam Bongos were killed in the fighting that lasted until the wee hours Sunday.

“We used every available asset we had… artillery and airplanes… because the Biff were too many,” Encinas said.

Encinas said the joint law enforcement operation by the military and National Police’s Special Action Force was aimed to serve a warrant of arrest against Abubakar who leads one of the three Biff factions.

Abubakar has increasingly adopted the ideology of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) and declared his allegiance to the radical group in 2015.

The fighting took place near the bridge in Tukanalipao, Mamasapano where 44 SAF troops were killed in a law enforcement operation to get Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli Adhir a.k.a. Marwan.

The fighting triggered the evacuation of 400 families in Barangay Tukanalipao, according to officials from Mamasapano town.

Moro Islamic Liberation Front Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) chair Butch Malang said the government informed them of the law enforcement operation on Thursday, a day before the military and police started their operation in Tukanalipao on Friday.

Malang said the fighting intensified when Isis fighters, Abubakar ally, and other armed groups joined Saturday.

He said the MILF fighters stayed away from the fighting, staying on the highway where the civilians gathered.

Malang said the village of Tukanalipao is a predominantly MILF community.