SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindanao – A soldier and a civilian passerby were injured when suspected Islamic militants bombed a military outpost here Friday night, police said.
Senior Supt. Agustin Tello, Maguindanao Police director, identified the victims as Corporal Ebrahim Meto of the Army’s 57th Infantry Battalion (IB) and a certain Kamarudin Malang, who was passing by the military outpost at about 9 p.m. in Barangay Pobacion here.
Both are confined at the Maguindanao Provincial Hospital in this town.
Citing police investigation, Tello said two men, believed to be members of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), zipped by the area on board a motorbike and tossed a fragmentation grenade towards the roadside detachment.
The two attackers sped away as the grenade exploded at a bamboo fence of the 57th IB outpost.
Tello said the blast also caused panic among residents living near the military detachment.
“Obviously, it was a harassment perpetrated by the BIFF in retaliation for the losses they incurred during air and ground assaults by the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) in the SPMS box,” Tello said.
The SPMS box refers to the adjoining towns of Shariff Aguak, Pagatin (Datu Saudi), Mamasapano and Datu Salibo, the areas where BIFF bailiwicks are located.
More than 40 BIFF members were killed during this week’s intensified law enforcement operations by the Army’s 6th Infantry Division with the 57th IB as among the operating ground troops in the SPMS box.
Three soldiers were also injured when the Islamic State-linked BIFF launched diversionary tactics by harassing Army and police stations in the area.
Following the grenade attack, Tello placed all police units in Maguindanao on full alert for possible retaliatory attacks from the BIFF. (Edwin Fernandez/PNA)
