Fighting BIFF: Airstrikes start vs Moro rebels in Maguindanao

Barely a month after the end of the siege in Marawi City, military aircraft started striking boundary areas of Shariff Aguak and Datu Unsay towns in Maguindanao province, where the military said another Islamic State (IS)-inspired armed group had been massing up.

Two MG-520 attack helicopters of the Philippine Army’s 6th Infantry Division, on Wednesday morning, took turns dropping bombs on areas in Barangay Timbangan in Shariff Aguak and Barangay Meta in Datu Unsay, identified as lair of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

“We will sustain this offensive to flush the [members of] BIFF out of their hideouts at the peripheries of Shariff Aguak and Datu Unsay,” said Capt. John Arvin Encinas, 6th ID spokesperson.

Operation coordinated

Encinas said the airstrikes were meant for BIFF subcommander Ismael Abubakar, alias Commander Bungos, whose group had been hiding in the mountainous areas of the towns.

Encinas, however, assured that the highway linking Cotabato City and Isulan town in Sultan Kudarat province, remained passable with more soldiers maintaining checkpoints along the route.

He said the operation against BIFF had been coordinated with the government’s ceasefire panel and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

No evacuation

No civilian evacuation was reported since the areas subjected to airstrikes were far from populated communities, Encinas said.

Since June this year, the MILF has been working with the government in pursuing another faction of the BIFF led by Esmael Abdulmalik, also known as Commander Torayfe, in Maguindanao.

More than 50 BIFF and 10 MILF members have been killed in the joint government and MILF operation in the towns of Datu Piang, Datu Salibo, Datu Shariff Saydona and Shariff Aguak since the start of the fighting.

Raising IS flag

The hostilities started when Abdulmalik and his men tried to raise the IS flag in a remote village in Datu Salibo, a move opposed by the MILF.

The MILF, under its ceasefire accord with the government, had agreed to help the Armed Forces of the Philippines fight criminals and terrorists in areas under its control.

Soldiers reported seeing Abdulmalik’s group last week in a remote village in Carmen town in North Cotabato province, prompting the military to launch airstrikes.

“There’s no letup in our operation against them,” Encinas said. —Edwin O. Fernandez