Militants attack police station, army posts
MANILA: About 50 heavily-armed members of a Daesh-linked breakaway Moro rebel group launched simultaneous atacks on a police station and a military outpost in Maguindanao province in Mindanao that sent scores of residents into panic, a top military official confirmed on Friday.
General Albert Gapay, the chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, reported that as the attackers fled ater meeting strong opposition from policemen and soldiers, they set fire to a police car in Datu Piang in Maguindanao.
As the fighting broke out late on Thursday night, many of the residents at the town centre admited they were awakened when they heard the heavy exchange of gunfire and went into panic.
Initial reports said the atackers wanted to abduct the town police chief, identified as Captain Israel Beyona, who had a “misunderstanding” with the relatives of one of leaders of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).
“Whatever was the motive behind the atack, it is a clear case act of terror perpetrated by the BIFF,” Gapay said, referring to the splinter rebel group that has pledged allegiance to the Daesh extremists in the Middle East.
On the other hand, a BIFF spokesman admited they launched the atack due to the presence of illegal drugs as well as liquor.
The military said the terrorists launched the attacks on the military outpost and Datu Piang police station whose members, although outnumbered, fought back until government reinforcements arrived at the scene.
No casualties were reported on either side with government forces now pursuing the terrorists who fled to their hideouts at the Liguasan marsh, police said.
The military said the BIFF was founded by the late veteran field commander Ameril Umbra Kato of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) who seceded with about 1,000 of his followers, due to major policy differences with the front leaders in the conduct of their peace negotiations with the government. Congressman Mujiv Hataman, a deputy speaker in the House of Representatives, lauded the military and the police for repulsing the terrorist atack on Datu Piang, as he pointed out: “What happenned to Datu Piang is a hard lesson for all of us — that forces of evil do not sleep.”
“They will always come at a time when we least expect them. And they will stop at nothing to sow fear in all of us. That’s why we have to be vigilant at all times,” added Hataman, also the former governor of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).