17 killed as MILF, BIFF clash in Datu Salibo
COTABATO CITY — Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters clashed anew with its breakaway group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), in Maguindanao last Friday, leaving 17 persons dead.
Senior Superintendent Agustin Tello said the two groups clashed when the BIFF tried to set up a bomb in Datu Salibo town south of Maguindanao province. When the smoke of the three-hour gunfight cleared, 12 followers of BIFF leader Esmael Abdulmalik lay dead.
They were identified as Salik, Noboh, Amir, Sanged, Mohaimin, Sulah, Tatoh, Pagal, Arsad, Dindih, Musib and Awal.
Abdulmalik is a former henchman of Malaysian terrorist bomb maker Zulkifli bin Hir (Marwan) who was killed by Special Action Forces in Mamasapano in 2015.
The Task Force Ittihad (TFI) of the MILF, on the other hand, suffered five casualties – Mahmod Laguiab, Darix Kendag, Kuzak Ali, Anwar Maulana, and Kalidin Ulama. Four other MILF fighters were wounded.
The fighting between the two rebel groups started when BIFF rebels detonated a bomb that wounded several MILF fighters which retaliated in early August. Army troops have backed the Moro rebel front fighters with
artillery fire and airstrikes, army Lt. Col. Gerry Besana said.
More than 40 rebels from both sides have been killed in the sporadic clashes in Datu Salibo and outlying towns in Maguindanao province’s vast marshland, Besana said.
The BIFF was formed by Ustadz Umbra Ameril Kato after bolting from the MILF in protest over the botched signing in 2008 of Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MoAAD) which the Supreme Court declared as unconstitutional.
After Kato’s death in 2015, the BIFF splintered into three factions. The MILF leadership said the Abdulmalik group “closed its door to peace talks” and pursued the extremist ideology of the Daesh or Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
Captain Arvin Encinas, public affairs officer of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said their units are guarding against possible BIFF retaliations on innocent civilians to avenge the death of more than 20 members killed in skirmishes with MILF guerillas since last month.
The MILF is helping the government fight violent religious extremists in Maguindanao in keeping with its two peace compacts with the government — the October 15, 2013 Framework Agreement on Bangsamoro and the March 27, 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro.
The Moro rebels’ mastery of the terrain is a big help to military as troops confront the rise of new pro-Islamic State groups, including those behind a deadly siege in southern Marawi City that has dragged for nearly three months, Besana added. (With a report from AP)