Militiaman hurt in Maguindanao roadside bombing

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao -– A militiaman was hurt in a roadside bomb explosion in Barangay Labu-Labu 2, Datu Hoffer, Maguindanao, early Wednesday morning.

Capt. Arvin John Encinas, Army’s 6th Infantry Division spokesperson, said a squad of Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) was conducting foot security patrol along the national highway near their  patrol base in Datu Hoffer, Maguindanao when the bomb went off at 6:15 a.m.

“He is now safe,” Encinas said of the militiaman but declined to identify him until his relatives are informed. After the blast, soldiers shut down for about an hour the section of the highway in Datu Hoffer town while a post-blast investigation was being conducted.

Encinas said the bomb, which was cellphone-detonated, bore the signature style of the Islamic State-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

Militiamen and soldiers regularly patrol the highways of Maguindanao, especially in the adjoining towns of Ampatuan, Shariff Aguak, Datu Hoffer and Datu Unsay due to frequent roadside bombing attempts by the BIFF as part of its diversionary tactics whenever there are major Army operations against them.

Brigadier Gen. Diosdado Carreon, the commander of the 601st Infantry Brigade, said earlier that the BIFF shifted to the planting of explosive ordnances along the highways to get back at soldiers or civilian communities the radicals eye as “soft targets”.

Only recently, several firearms, including .50 caliber sniper rifles, were recovered by soldiers following clashes with the BIFF in the borders of Datu Salibo and Shariff Aguak towns.

Encinas said the Datu Hoffer bombing was a diversionary tactic following a military artillery offensive during the past two days in Sultan sa Barongis town, where seven BIFF fighters, including a sub-commander, were killed. (PNA)