Gov’t troops hold 7 on suspicion of being Moro rebs

COTABATO CITY—Government troops have arrested seven people on suspicion of being members of a Moro rebel group behind attacks on military bases in five towns in Maguindanao over the past four weeks.

Three of the suspected members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) were taken in by policemen at a “choke-point” along a highway in Esperanza town in Sultan Kudarat province on Friday.

Director Manuel Barcena, chief of the Directorate for Integrated Police Operations for Western Mindanao, identified them as Rasul Linga and Gheramin Macalay Guimandal, both of Datu Saudi Ampatuan town, and Mastura Biduna, of Talayan town. The two municipalities are in Maguindanao province.

The three yielded handguns and grenades, Barcena said, citing a report from the Sultan Kudarat police.

He said members of the provincial police and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Team ordered them to alight from a Tamaraw FX van when they showed restlessness while being inspected.

Earlier, four other suspects were arrested by Army soldiers and are now in police custody. Their names were not immediately available.

The Joint Task Force Omar, a police-military group, is documenting at least 21 cases of multiple and frustrated murder, arson, robbery in band and hostage-taking involving BIFF rebels who began storming Army and paramilitary installations in Maguindanao on Aug. 5.

Criminal charges will be filed against the rebels led by Ameril Umra Kato, a Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) commander who split from the group and formed the BIFF, and their spokesperson, Abu Misry Mama. Kato was eventually expelled by the MILF for disobedience and atrocities on civilian communities in 2008 following the botched homeland deal between the rebel group and the government.

The government and the MILF are close to forging a peace agreement to end the Moro insurgency in Mindanao.

Seven people have issued sworn statements to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group on the BIFF attacks in Maguindanao, said Senior Supt. Jaime Pido, provincial police chief and head of Task Force Omar.

They will be placed under the government’s witness protection program, Barcena said.

More than 40,000 people were displaced during the attacks. Edwin Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao