Government troops from the Army’s 61st Division Reconnaisance exchanged a series of firefights over the past six days with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and not the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters as previously believed, even as a military spokesman insisted the military fought with the BIFF although the sites of encounter were close to MILF areas.
Ground commanders who spoke on condition of anonymity said they were verifying reports that troops they had encountered in Maguindanao were actually from the MILF. “Or, it could be a composite of both groups,” one of them told The Standard in a phone interview.
Captain Jo-An Petinglay, spokesperson of the Army’s 6th infantry Division, said the firefight between the soldiers and the BIFF started Friday in Datu Salibo have spread to Barangay Dawang in Datu Saudi Ampatuan town.
One soldier was wounded in the encounter.
Another military source said “earlier today, our forces came in contact with elements they believed were BIFF but turned out to be MILF forces.”
MILF spokesman Von An Haq, in a published report, blamed the soldiers for not coordinating their ongoing pursuit of the BIFF and simply going into an MILF area.
This is a similar argument for the fighting involving the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force in Mamasapano, Maguindanao on Jan. 25, 2015.
The clashes occurred after the failure of Congress to pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law last week.