Two policemen were wounded in road blasts that sparked fighting between Muslim rebels and government forces in Maguindanao on Friday.
The wounded policemen were members of Guindulungan Municipal Police Station.
Police were on patrol when an improvised explosive device planted by members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters exploded some 10 meters away from the cops’ vehicle at about 9 p.m.
Shortly after the first blast, another IED exploded some 25 meters away while BIFF rebels fired their guns and engaged state forces in a firefight which lasted for 40 minutes.
The BIFF rebels withdrew in different directions before reinforcement arrived.
The wounded policemen were brought to a hospital for treatment.
Major Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said that the attack was a diversionary tactic by the BIFF to divert attention from the military’s ongoing clearing operations in Datu Salibo, Maguindanao, the site of BIFF and military fighting.
On Feb. 6, BIFF rebels assaulted a military installation wounding an Army office and triggering an intense fighting.
Army Capt. Jimmy Amoloy sustained a bullet wound on his forehead after he and his soldiers engaged the BIFF in a firefight. The rebels earlier burned construction equipment at a government road project in Sitio Dagading in Datu Salibo town.