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Fresh fighting between military and a group of breakaway Muslim rebels erupted on Monday in the southern Philippine province of Maguindanao, leaving two rebels dead and 13 others wounded, the military said.
Dickson Hermoso, spokesman for the military's 6th Division, said two of their men were wounded when members of Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) separately raided their camps in the towns of Datu Piang and Shariff Saydona.
Hernoso said dozens of rebels first harassed their detachment in the village of Dumablas in Datu Piang around early in the morning. A two-hour fighting ensued.
He said the rebels also attacked their position in the village of Ganta in Shariff Saidona.
"We are expecting attacks from them. They tried but failed to overrun our positions," he said. Abu Misry Mama, spokesman of BIFF, claimed their organization was responsible for the twin attacks, adding their movement will continue unless the military release a father-son duo it captured two weeks ago in nearby Datu Unsay town.
"We have been investigating this matter and I assure the public we are not involved and it's not in our policy," Hermoso said.
Mama said two of their fighters were killed while two others wounded. Nine civilians were wounded when a mortar landed and exploded in the village of Penditan, an adjacent village of Ganta.
The BIFF, founded by former Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) commander Ameril Umbra Kato, defected to the MILF in late 2010 after the latter decided to drop its call for an independent Islamic state.
