Local sectors ignore Dawlah Islamiya, BIFF’s attack threats

COTABATO CITY — Local executives and Muslim clerics have brushed aside as un-Islamic the insinuations by two terrorist groups for villagers residing near Army detachments to relocate to far areas to prevent getting trapped in crossfires if they attack.

Self-styled spokespersons of the Dawlah Islamiya and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, both blamed for all deadly bombings in Central Mindanao since 2014, channeled their warnings thru radio stations on Wednesday.

“That is so un-Islamic,” a 50-year-old Ustadz, or Islamic missionary, in the education ministry of the Bangsamoro region, who requested anonymity for security reasons, told reporters on Thursday.

Such call by the Dawlah Islamiya and the BIFF, annoying for local government officials and members of the Islamic community, was aired after units of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division launched low-scale, calibrated anti-terror operations around Datu Hoffer town in Maguindanao del Sur and nearby hinterlands following Sunday’s fatal ambush of four soldiers in the area by combined members of both terrorist groups.

The attack that left four soldiers dead was perpetrated on the 6th day of Ramadhan, a holy month in Islam, where Muslims fast from dawn to dusk for one lunar cycle, lasting from 29 to 30 days, as a religious obligation, reparation for wrongdoings and to instill among them the importance of self-restraint to achieve spiritual perfection. 

“Their whimsical appeal, as if they have authority to do so, is tantamount to making these innocent Moro villagers become hungry since they rely mainly on farming in lands near scattered Army detachments and police outposts in the municipalities in Maguindanao del Sur,” 6th ID’s commander, Major Gen. Alex Rillera, said on Thursday.

Rillera said the Dawlah Islamiya and the BIFF are trying to create an impression that both have not been weakened by the death of 32 members in clashes with soldiers in Maguindanao del Sur since 2021 and the surrender to the government of 789 others during the period.

Muslim teachers had also reacted negatively to the Dawlah Islamiya and BIFF’s warning on Moro villagers thriving in agricultural enclaves close to Army installations.

“What do they want? Force Moro children from not attending classes in schools that are near Army detachments? That is so absurd,” an irate school principal in one of the Maguindanao del Sur towns, said.

Units of the 6th ID and the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region have tightened security in Maguindanao del Sur to preclude any act of terror by the Dawlah Islamiya and the BIFF, known for attacking non-military targets for losses in encounters with pursuing state security forces.