Villagers flee as military hits BIFF in central Mindanao

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — Helicopter gunships pounded with rockets two hideouts of Islamic State-inspired militants in central Mindanao’s Maguindanao and North Cotabato provinces before dawn on Sunday, prompting hundreds of villagers to leave their homes.

Soldiers also reportedly shelled with 105-mm Howitzers a lair of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters between Lambayong, Sultan Kudarat and General Pendatun, Maguindanao early Sunday to flush out militants.

Local officials have confirmed that helicopter gunships fired into swampy areas at the border of Pikit, North Cotabato and Pagalungan, Maguindanao where gunmen displaying a black Islamic State flag were spotted early on.

The target of the artillery and air offensives is a wanted BIFF leader named Taib, a henchman of Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters faction leader Abu Toraife.

Toraife, a radical cleric, stokes hatred for the government and for non-Muslims among residents in areas where his group operates.

The BIFF is blamed for all bombings in central Mindanao in the past seven years.

The group splintered from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in 2010 and has since been trying to sabotage the peace process between the MILF and Malacañang.

Key officials of the Army’s 602nd and 601st Infantry and 1st Mechanized Brigades said Sunday the operations were prompted by tips from vigilant residents confirming the presence of gunmen assembling powerful improvised explosive devices in those areas.

The sources also confirmed that the operations to neutralize BIFF bandits were coordinated properly with the ceasefire committee of the MILF.

The government and the MILF are bound by an interim security pact, the 1997 Agreement on General Cessation of Hostilities, to cooperate in addressing security issues besetting conflict flashpoint areas in southern provinces.

Hundreds leave homes

Hundreds of families at the Buliok Complex in the boundary of Pagalungan and Pikit have evacuated to safer areas anticipating hostilities if soldiers come into contact with the BIFF.

In a statement Sunday, the Humanitarian Emergency Assistance and Response Team of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao said its employees have been dispatched to evacuation sites in Pagalungan to provide relief and rehabilitation services to evacuees.

The team, operating under the ministerial control of ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, has trucks ready to transport food and other provisions to makeshift relief centers.

In a related development, human rights monitoring and community protection group Tiyakap Kalilintad, in an appeal posted on its Facebook page, appealed to authorities "managing the massive military actions in and outside Liguasan Marsh to please ensure the safety for civilians."

"We respect and conformed to your mandates in repressing criminalities as we do also care for security of civilians," the group said. "We appeal to you to, please, no more civilians will suffer as collateral damage."