Aerial attacks launched over BIFF base

THE military conducted aerial and artillery strikes over two barangay (villages) of Shariff Aguak in Maguindanao on Wednesday where an encampment of a Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) was sighted.

Captain Arvin Encinas, spokesman for the Philippine Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the “fire mission” was conducted at about 4 a. m. on Wednesday in the villages of Meta Data Unsay and Timbangan.

He said the targets were BIFF bandits temporarily encamped along the boundary of the said villages.

“The number [of BIFF members there] was undetermined and it is on the boundary of the two villages,” Encinas told reporters over the phone.

Encinas also declined to disclose the aircraft unit used, by the 601st Infantry Brigade which is under the 6th Infantry Division.

“We have monitored [the whereabouts of the BIFF] and we received information from the civilian residents in the area. They were the ones who

As of press time, ground troops in the area were still conducting clearing operations and Encinas said they have yet to determine the number of casualties of the airstrikes and attacks from the BIFF side.

In August, the military, alongside the Moro against the BIFF that have staged a series of attacks in several villages in the region.