[ATimes] New military-militant clashes show Islamic State's local affiliates have regrouped and spread since last year's siege of Marawi.
Almost five months after Philippine troops flushed out Islamic State-aligned militants in the southern city of Marawi, fierce clashes erupted anew in restive Maguindanao province, leaving 44 Islamic militants killed, according to the military.
The dead — although their number could not be independently verified — belonged to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), which like the Maute Group that laid siege to Marawi in May 2017, had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
On March 8, 2nd Mechanized Infantry Battalion troops under the army’s battle-tested 6th Infantry Division chanced upon an initial 50 BIFF members in the swamplands of Datu Saudi Ampatuan, some five hours away from Marawi by car.
According to the military, 26 more BIFF fighters were wounded, with only one injured from the army, in fighting that caused thousands of civilians to take flight to safer areas.
“The firefight was so intense. Our troops pounded them with heavy fires,” said Lieutenant Colonel Alvin Iyog. “They ran for their lives leaving behind improvised explosive devices, high-powered firearms, ammunition, and personal belongings stained with blood,” he claimed.
The fresh clashes between the military and BIFF came days before the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) observed the “Bangsamoro Week of Peace” on March 12, with the theme “Hope and Solidarity in Struggle.”
“Mindanao, particularly the ARMM, is deeply penetrated by ISIS Philippines,” 
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