Wanted BIFF bomb-maker killed in Maguindanao shootout

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — Lawmen shot dead on Tuesday night in Datu Odin Sinsuat town the wanted bomb-maker for all three factions in the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

Ebrahim Ali died on the spot from bullet wounds sustained in a shootout with combined personnel of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and the Datu Odin Sinsuat municipal police.

Relatives said Ali was trained in fabrication of improvised explosive devices by the slain Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, most known as Marwan and his local accomplice, Abdulbasit Usman.

Policemen and soldiers from the Army’s 6th Infantry Division were to peacefully arrest Ali in Barangay Awang in Datu Odin Sinsuat but were forced to neutralize him when he pulled out a pistol from his waist.

Senior Superintendent Agustin Tello, director of the Maguindanao provincial police, said on Wednesday that Ali was proficient in fabrication of improvised explosive devices.

The BIFF faction led by Imam Karialan was quick to deny any link with Ali.

“We don’t know him. He does not belong to our group,” said Abu Amir, spokesman of Imam Karialan.

Barangay officials in the second district of Maguindanao, however, said Ali worked for all three factions in the outlawed BIFF.

Local officials in the province said he was related by blood to Imam Karialan. They also confirmed that Ali was also a close relative of Imam Bongos, the figurehead of another BIFF group.

BIFF sources said Ali also fabricated IEDs for the group of Esmael Abdulmalik, locked in a showdown since last month with pursuing guerillas of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The group of Abdulmalik, which splintered from the BIFF last year, is operating in the fashion of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

The MILF, which has an ongoing peace overture with Malacañang, is helping the 6th ID run after Abdulmalik and his men in support of President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on terror.

Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. of the Western Mindanao Command said on Thursday that it was vigilant villagers who informed the 6th ID and the CIDG-ARMM of Ali’s presence in Barangay Awang.

“We ought to thank all the patriotic civilians who helped authorities locate him there,” Galvez said.

BIFF sources said Ali was closest to the group of Abdulmalik, who was also trained in handling of IEDs by Marwan.

Community elders said it was Ali who produced the roadside bomb used in the 2016 bombing of a private vehicle in Datu Salibo town in Maguindanao that resulted in the death of a local government official and his son.

Local officials also confirmed that one of his IEDs was used by Abdulmalik’s men against MILF members chasing them in a marshy area in Datu Piang, Maguindanao two weeks ago.

Five MILF guerillas were killed in the bombing.