The military said Wednesday Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters’ (BIFF) improvised explosive device (IED) killed a pregnant woman in Barangay Pusao, Shariff Saydona Mustapha, Maguindanao on Tuesday night.
Philippine Army 6th Infantry Division spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Anhouvic Atilano told GMA News Online said the military received a report about suspected BIFF members in Datu Salibo.
The military forces then launched a fire mission against the alleged 20 BIFF members on Tuesday night.
Atilano said they heard explosions after the military’s fire mission. He claimed the BIFF members caused the blast.
“Kagabi kasi at around mga 10:20 kagabi, nagkaroon ng fire mission doon sa may sighted na mga BIFF dito sa Barangay Kabinayan, Datu Salibo municipality. Nagkaroon tayo ng artillery fires doon sa Barangay Kabinayan na may sighted na mga less than 20 na BIFF led by Commander Motorola,” Atilano said. He added the group was the same BIFF members who attacked Datu Piang in Maguindanao early this month.
(Last night and around 10:20 last night, there was a fire mission where BIFFs were sighted here in Barangay Kabinayan, Datu Salibo municipality. We had artillery fires in Barangay Kabinayan where less than 20 BIFFs were seen led by Commander Motorola.)
BIFF’s IED kills pregnant woman in Maguindanao – military
“Nagpaputok tayo ng 105 Howitzers, eight rounds ito ng 105 Howitzers targeting itong mga sighted na BIFF. Now mga 10:30 nag-stop na tayo ng paputok. After niyan may pumutok pa, may narinig na mga putok so ang suspect namin, sinabayan ito ng putok ng mga BIFF, ‘yung putok natin,” he added.
(We fired 105 Howitzers, it was eight rounds of 105 Howitzers targeting these sighted BIFFs. Now around 10:30, we stopped firing. After that there was another explosion, we heard gunshots so our suspect, the BIFF also fired.)
Atilano said that Datu Salibo, the target area, was just 1.1 kilometers away from Shariff Saydona Mustapha, Maguindanao. He added that upon checking, the BIFF’s IED hit and killed the pregnant woman.