Off-duty soldier hurt in another Dawlah Islamiya attack

MAGUINDANAO --- Suspected hitmen of the outlawed Dawlah Islamiya shot and wounded another off-duty member of the Army’s 6^th Infantry Division shortly before this weekend.

Staff Sgt. Rex Maleficiado, 38, was on his way home from duty at Camp Gonzalo Siongco in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao when he was shot with .45 caliber pistols by two men near a Catholic chapel less than a kilometer away from the Army camp.

The wounded Maleficiado was rushed by responding barangay tanods to a hospital for treatment.

Officials of the Datu Odin Sinsuat municipal police are certain his attackers were members of the Dawlah Islamiya, also known as the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, or BIFF.

The group has a reputation for attacking off-duty soldiers and for bombing non-military targets to avenge the deaths of members in encounters with pursuing units of 6^th ID comprising the Army-led anti-terror Task Force Central.

Motorcycle-riding hitmen of the Dawlah Islamiya had killed no fewer than 30 non-unformed, virtually unarmed soldiers under units of 6^th ID and wounded some 20 others in a continuing spate of attacks that started in late 2016.