Philippine military claims 73 rebels killed in Mindanao offensive

Rights groups say multiple civilians also injured.

Civilians who fled fighting in their villages take shelter at an evacuation center in Maguindanao province

Manila:  The Philippine military on Monday claimed that 73 members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), including a "foreign looking personality", were killed and 33 others were wounded in ongoing military offensives against rebels in Mindanao.

"[The figures] may increase when we are through validating other casualties," said military spokesman Lt Col Harold Cabunoc.

He said authorities are "still determining" the identity of the foreigner who was killed in the encounter. The military claims that the BIFF has been harboring Indonesian and Pakistani jihadists in Mindanao.

Cabunoc also reported the death of six government troops and the wounding of 29 others in the ongoing military campaign, which was launched in the provinces of Maguindanao and North Cotabato on February 25.

Human rights group Suara Bangsamoro, meanwhile, claimed that civilians were also wounded in the all-out offensive.

Jerome Aba, Suara Bangsamoro spokesman, cited the case of 36-year old Boyong Unggla in the town of Datu Saudi Ampatuan who received head injuries.

"The [military] is clearly unable to distinguish civilians from combatants. This incompetence and lack of fire discipline has resulted to civilian casualties," said Aba.

"The ineptitude and trigger-happy nature of the military has once again endangered the lives of combatants [at rates] greater than those of the state’s purported enemies," he said.

Aba, however, could not specify how many civilians were killed or wounded, saying that the gathering of reports from the field and documentation of casualties are still ongoing.

Another of the cases cited by Aba was that of Farhana Panigas and her infant daughter who received bullet wounds to their legs.

In the village of Elian, 60-year old Alon Maytula complained of damage to property caused by mortar rounds that landed near his house last Friday.

"Contrary to their claims that the military operations will clear the region of insurgents and bring peace, [the government] has only succeeded in displacing communities and causing casualties among the civilian population," Aba said.

Captain Jo-Ann Petinglay, spokeswoman of the military's 6th Infantry Division, denied Aba's report, saying that ground forces were very careful in their movements.

"We stand by our statements that we had been doing calculated actions to avoid casualties among civilians and their properties," said Petinglay, adding that the military will conduct an investigation into Aba's report.

Authorities in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao have already documented more than 40,000 internally displaced persons who sought shelter in various evacuation centers.

With an estimated expense of US$22,700 per day for food rations, the local government already expressed fear that it would not be able to sustain its humanitarian mission.

"The [military] has dealt a big blow to the BIFF in the series of law enforcement operations," said Cabunoc in Manila, adding that the rebel force was "getting weaker and weaker".

"We are slowly reducing their strength. We have degraded their capability to conduct atrocities. They are running out of ammunition because of the encounters," the military official said.

Source: UCAN