Breakaway Moro group disowns commander killed in Maguindanao fighting

Members of the breakaway Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF). AFP FILE PHOTO

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement (BIFM) disowned on Saturday a rebel commander the military had claimed was killed in an offensive it mounted six days ago against the hardline Muslim group opposed to peace talks in Mindanao.

Abu Misry Mama, spokesman of the breakaway faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), said Hassan Indal was indeed among the MILF commanders led by Ameril Umra Kato who established the BIFM after breaking away from the MILF about two years ago.

But he said Indal, also known as “Tambako,” was expelled from the BIFM and its armed wing, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), “for committing un-Islamic acts.”

Mama did not elaborate on what these acts were but added that the BIFM does not tolerate “shenanigans.”

Colonel Dickson Hermoso, the local military spokesperson, described Indal as a trusted lieutenant of Kato’s. He said Indal was killed in the ongoing military offensive against the BIFF, which entered its sixth day on Saturday.

Mama said he could not confirm that Indal was killed because neither the BIFM nor the BIFF had any contact with him.

“We don’t have any idea if he is still alive or not,” he said.

The military claims at least 53 rebels have been killed in clashes with government forces near the towns of Datu Piang and Saydona Mustapha.

Hermoso claimed that three child warriors were among those killed, but Mama denied the rebels employed child warriors.