Members of the breakaway Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF). INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
COTABATO CITY, Philippines—The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters denied Tuesday it was involved in Sunday’s bombing in Kabacan, North Cotabato, that killed one person and wounded more than a dozen others.
“We had no hand there,” BIFF spokesman Abu Misri Mama said in a telephone interview.
The BIFF, he added, “don’t attack civilians, only military.”
The military had said earlier it suspected the BIFF was behind the bombing to divert the military’s attention from an ongoing campaign against the rebels.
The BIFF broke away from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and continues to attack small military detachments as they continue to fight for an independent Islamic state in Mindanao.
But Mama urged the authorities to dig deeper into Sunday’s bombing and said the BIFF was also conducting its own investigation to clear its name.
North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Mendoza and Kabacan Mayor Herlo Guzman have offered a reward of P200,000 for information leading to the arrest of the people responsible for the blast, which occurred around 7 p.m. near the Kabacan Pilot Central Elementary School in Barangay (village) Poblacion.
Meanwhile, the mother of Monique Mantawil, 19, the lone fatality, said she believed Allah would punish the perpetrators of the attack.
Florence Mantawil said her family has accepted the death of Monique, a development communication student at the University of Southern Mindanao here.
Monique and several classmates were passing by the elementary school on their way to a photocopying center when the explosion occurred.
“You also have children; you will know how painful it is to lose a daughter,” the woman said as her daughter was laid to rest in accordance with Islamic rites on Monday.
Dr. Francisco Garcia, USM president, appealed for a speedy investigation of the bombing as he announced financial assistance for students injured by the blast who were recuperating in hospitals.
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