Army kills 12 Islamic rebels in Philippines, seven soldiers injured

Philippine Army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Dennis Almorato said the group has long been notorious for bombings, attacking military and police posts, and extortion from bus companies. We finally caught them.

Seven soldiers were injured in the firing. (symbolic)

Philippine troops have killed the leader of a small Muslim rebel group and 11 of his men in a clash in the south of the country. These rebels were blamed for previous bombings and extortion. Brigadier General Jose Vladimir Cagara said seven soldiers were wounded Monday in an hour-long gunbattle against suspected members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in the swampy interior of Datu Saudi Ampatuan town in Maguindanao del Sur province.

Kaigara said a key commander of the rebel group, Mohideen Animbang, who used the alias de guerre Kariyalan, was killed along with his brother, Saga Animbang, and 10 other suspected militants. About a dozen of their weapons were recovered from the battle site.

Attack on army and police posts

Army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Dennis Almorato said the group has long been notorious for bombings, attacking army and police posts, and extortion from bus companies. We finally caught them.

Attempt to persuade to surrender

Almorato said army officers tried to persuade Animbang's group to surrender, but it decided to continue fighting the government. The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters is one of the few armed groups still waging a separatist insurgency in the southern Philippines, the homeland of minority Muslims in the largely Catholic nation.

Radicals associated with the Islamic State

The largest armed separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, signed a 2014 peace deal with the government. This reduced the sporadic fighting that had been going on for decades. A prominent commander, Ameril Umbra Kato, defected from the rebel front after it entered into peace talks with the government and formed the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, some of whose radical members later aligned with the Islamic State group. The army is fighting a separate decades-old communist insurgency that has been weakened by battle failures, infighting, and surrenders.