DATU SAUDI AMPATUAN, Maguindanao —Bandits failed to invade a major military base in Maguindanao due to advance information, army officials said Monday.
About 50 heavily armed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters on Sunday night harassed government forces but quickly fled when soldiers, who have obtained intelligence information on the group’s plan, traded shots with the bandits at 8 p.m. Sunday in the village of Kabpangi, Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao.
First Lieutenant Emmanuel Ferrer, Mechanized Army team leader, told reporters they received intelligence on the impending attack. Villagers also reported the presence of BIFF bandits in Barangay Kabpangi.
Before they could strike at the base, the soldiers, backed by armored personnel carriers, went to Kabpingi only to receive gunfire from the group.
The BIFF also lobbed hand grenades at the military.
A 30-minute firefight ensued until the bandits, led by Commander Kagi Tatang, fled to the marshland.
Lt. Colonel Warlito Limet, 2nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade chief, said there were no casualties from the government side during the firefight. He could not confirm whether or not the attackers sustained casualties.
Ferrer said his men tried to chase the attackers along the sides of a narrow cemented highway but retreated for fear of booby traps that could have been left by the attackers.
At past 7 a.m. Monday, government forces found an improvised bomb with a rope tied to a small tree during clearing operations at the encounter site. The IED could have exploded had pursuing soldiers stepped on the rope, Ferrer said.
Bomb experts defused the IED Monday morning.