Muslim extremists raid public market

Rebels escape after standoff with govt troops

MUSLIM extremists occupied a public market in the town of Datu Paglas in Maguindanao at dawn on SATURDAY BUT DID NOT TAKE ANY HOSTAGES AND flED following a standoff with responding Army troops and police.

Lt. Col. John Paul Baldomar, spokesman for the 6th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army, said about 80 alleged members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) “went into the market at about 4 a.m. and stole food but got stuck inside when they saw that our forces have taken positions to ensure other buildings could not be threatened.”

There were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths although there were conflicting accounts of the incident.

Baldomar said government forces locked down the town center, where the public market was located, and closed

a highway at the height of the hours-long rebel occupation of the market.

The gunmen had fled in batches following talks with local officials although soldiers pursued them, finding at least four improvised explosive devices or IEDs along the highway.

Datu Paglas Vice Mayor Mohammad Paglas, however, gave a different account and told reporters that the mostly young Muslim rebels arrived on board five trucks in the town center on Friday to rest and mark the holy fasting month of Ramadan. He added some of the gunmen have relatives in the town in predominantly Muslim Maguindanao province.

“A big number of gunmen arrived and told us they just wanted to take a rest since it’s Ramadan. We allowed them,” Paglas said.

When troops and police, some on board armored personnel carriers, arrived, the rebels were forced to retreat into the public market for cover but allowed people to leave the building, he said.

Paglas said there was an exchange of fire before the rebels fled on the request of local officials.

Baldomar said some of the gunmen opened fire on civilian motorists, who were trapped along the highway. The motorists later managed to flee with the help of the military, he said.

Baldomar said the BIFF may have resurfaced as an undisclosed number of its members have surrendered to the government over the past months.

Meanwhile, Mayor Babydats Mangudadatu from the neighboring town of Buluan said in a Facebook post that he had ordered a lockdown to prevent the entry of the fleeing BIFF members.

On July 2, 2018, some BIFF members attempted to occupy the municipal hall, also in Datu Paglas, but were stopped by troops from the 33rd Infantry Battalion.

The rebel group broke off from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest Muslim rebel group in the south, after it entered into peace talks and later signed a Muslim autonomy deal with the government in 2014. The breakaway guerrillas have continued sporadic attacks and bombings, with some aligning themselves with the Islamic State (IS) group.

Government forces have been on alert in the southern Philippines after hundreds of mostly local militants with some foreign supporters linked to the IS group laid siege on southern Marawi city in 2017.

They took over buildings, including banks, school campuses and a hospital, before troops quelled the insurrection after five months with the help of surveillance aircraft deployed by the United States and Australia. The audacious attack at the time reinforced fears that the IS was gaining a foothold in Southeast Asia despite battle setbacks in Iraq and Syria.