MANILA, Philippines - The deadly blast that ripped through an upscale entertainment district in Cagayan de Oro City on July 26 has all the footprints of a local terrorist group with direct links to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).
This was revealed yesterday by at least three senior security officials based in Mindanao even as combined police and military investigators have yet to identify the perpetrators and their motive.
“Based on previous information and components recovered at the blast site, it’s more of the handiwork of the group of Basit Usman now affiliated with the BIFF,†one security official said.
Usman, who once served as the leader of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Special Operations Group (SOG), reportedly broke away from the MILF and is now working under the BIFF apart from maintaining his links with the Abu Sayyaf and the regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).
The security official also revealed that, before the bombing in Cagayan de Oro City last October that killed two civilians and injured two responding policemen, Basit and his JI cohorts trained a group of young radical Muslims on how to manufacture and assemble improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
This training, which according to sources in the intelligence community had the full support of the BIFF, was held somewhere in Marawi City.
“Last Friday’s blast could be part of a test mission which the group launched last year. Anyway, an investigation is still ongoing. As to the official report on the incident, the only person allowed to issue a statement is Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Mar Roxas,†the security official said.
The same official also pointed out that before last Friday’s blast, the BIFF had already made known its support for Bangsamoro independence being floated by the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).
Another senior military official said the involvement of Basit Usman and his group in last week’s carnage in Cagayan de Oro was so far the strongest angle being looked into by the authorities. – Gerry Lee Gorit