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Army foils BIFF attempt to over-run detachment in Maguindanao

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao, Dec. 16 (PNA) -- For the second time in three days, outlawed Moro armed men tried, but failed, to over-run last night an Army base in Maguindanao, an Army official said.

Colonel Robert Sarmiento, commander of the 19th Infantry Battalion, said about 50 heavily armed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) harassed at 9 p.m. the headquarters of 19th IB "Bravo" company in Barangay Bagan, Guindulungan, Maguindanao, two days after, another band of BIFF harassed Army and police bases in nearby Datu Salibo, also in Maguindanao.

Sarmiento said the soldiers were expecting harassment from the group since it separately attacked the detachments of 2nd Mechanized Battalion and Datu Salibo police station on Wednesday night.

Attackers belonged to a faction of the outlawed BIFF under Commander One Eye.

Sarmiento said no casualty on the government side and he could not say whether the attackers suffered casualties following a sporadic overnight exchange of bullets and mortars.

Sarmiento, meanwhile, appealed to the BIFF to give its brothers Muslims and Christians in Maguindanao the chance to peacefully celebrate Christmas and New Year.

The BIFF is a breakaway faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that broke from mainstream rebel movement due to ideological differences.

Latest military estimates, the group has about 1,000 armed followers operating mainly in the towns of Datu Salibo, Datu Piang, Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Mamasapano, Shariff Aguak, Guindulungan and Talayan, all in Maguindanao's second district. (PNA)

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