MILF recover 11 improvised bombs from BIFF militants

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — Three more Moro Islamic Liberation Front fighters were wounded in a firefight with Islamic militants Sunday that resulted in the recovery of 11 bombs intended for civilian targets.

 

The wounded members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front — Misuari Mohammadi, 20, Mohidin Ahmad, 28, and Tarik Sabpa, 26 — are now confined in a hospital.

 

The MILF, which has a peace agreement with the government, has been fighting a third faction in the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters operating in Salibo, Datu Piang, Datu Saudi and Sharif Saydona towns in Maguindanao for three weeks.

 

The group, which uses the flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria as its revolutionary banner, is led by Esmael Abdulmalik, a former henchman of slain Malaysian bomb-maker Zulkifli bin Hir, most known as Marwan.

 

Chief Superintendent Reuben Theodore Sindac, director of the Police Regional Office-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said on Monday that the MILF’s operation against the group of Abdulmalik is coordinated with the municipal police offices in Maguindanao.

 

Sindac said militant BIFF gunmen and the MILF last fought on Sunday in Barangay Andavit, Salibo.

 

Three MILF members under Commander Haon were wounded in the ensuing encounter.

 

Commander Haon and his men were proceeding to a secluded area in Barangay Andavit to check the reported sighting there of more than 20 followers of Abdulmalik carrying improvised explosive devices when they were attacked from two directions, sparking a two-hour running firefight.

 

Barangay residents in Salibo, Datu Piang, Datu Saudi and Sharif Saydona confirmed to reporters on Monday that five followers of Abdulmalik — Omar Sambuh, Antaw Guinaid, Salik Tongan, Muin Bantuas and Alipudin Kadir — were killed in the firefight.

 

The militants scampered away when more MILF guerillas arrived to help Commander Haon and his men, leaving behind 11 IEDs. The home-made explosives, rigged with blasting devices that can be detonated from a distance, were immediately turned over to the local police.

 

The IEDs were recovered just a day after villagers warned of a plot by Abdulmalik’s group to perpetrate roadside bombings to avenge the deaths of 26 members killed by MILF forces in encounters that started three weeks ago.

 

The MILF lost 12 guerillas since, five of them killed in a landmine blast more than a week ago. More than 10 other MILF fighters were wounded in ensuing skirmishes during the period.

Sindac said the Maguindanao provincial police has imposed security measures to forestall retaliations on civilian targets by the outlawed BIFF for its losses in hostilities with the MILF.

 

“We are not taking chances. Our municipal police offices in Maguindanao are guarding against possible diversionary attacks by this group,” Sindac said.Authorities have tightened security in areas vulnerable to diversionary attacks by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, the outlawed group that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front has been clashing with.

 

Chief Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac, director of the Police Regional Office-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said Sunday that the measure is meant to prevent  retaliations on civilian targets by the outlawed BIFF for its losses in hostilities with the MILF in the past three weeks.

 

“We are not taking chances, our municipal police offices, particularly those in the second district of Maguindanao, are guarding against possible diversionary attacks by this group,” Sindac said.

 

Sindac said the ARMM’s Regional Highway Patrol Unit is helping with security measures.

 

The operation is also aimed at preventing the BIFF’s possible use of motorcycles rigged with improvised explosive devices that can be detonated in public terminals and markets and along stretches of highways crisscrossing Maguindanao province.

 

Sindac said the ongoing operation of the MILF against Abdulmalik and his men are coordinated closely with the police and Army units in the province through the joint Coordinating Committee on Cessation of Hostilities.

 

The committee is comprised of representatives from the MILF, the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

 

It is helping enforce the 1997 Agreement on General Cessation of Hostilities between the MILF and the government, which enjoins both sides to mutually cooperate in maintaining law and order in conflict flashpoint areas in southern Mindanao.

 

Capt. Arvin Encinas, public affairs officer of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said soldiers are bracing for Abdulmalik’s group to go on a rampage following the reported death of his son, Hamdi, in an encounter with MILF forces in Barangay Tee in Salibo Friday.

 

Barangay officials in Salibo and Datu Piang have confirmed that among the BIFF fatalities in Friday’s skirmishes with the MILF was Hamdi, eldest son of Abdulmalik.

 

“We have been receiving information pertaining to that from the public. The reports about his death are persistent. We are doing our best to prevent them from subjecting non-military targets to retaliations,” Encinas said.