The military said on Tuesday that eight were killed during a clash on Sunday in the villages of Shariff Saydona Mustapha town in Maguindanao province in the central Mindanao. Four others were killed on the same day in a separate clash in another part of town.On Sunday, military spokesman Cirilito Sobejana said there are up to 400 BIFF rebels operating in central Mindanao.
BIFF members are mostly disgruntled former militants from the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front which signed a peace accord with the government. The BIFF is among the armed groups in Mindanao that pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria a few years ago.