MILF stays out of Army path in fight vs BIFF

A MORO Islamic Liberation Front fighter carrying an antitank rocket-propelled grenade inside Camp Darapanan in Maguindanao province patiently waits for updates on the peace process with the government. RYAN D. ROSAURO

COTABATO CITY—The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has repositioned its forces from the so-called SPMS box (Salibo, Pagatin, Mamasapano, Shariff Aguak) in Maguindanao amid intense military operations against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, a government official said.

Carlos Sol Jr., chair of the government’s ceasefire committee, said the move was aimed at preventing MILF forces from being drawn into the skirmishes and to protect the peace process.

At least 6,000 armed MILF members and their families live in the so-called SPMS box, he said.

“All BIAF (Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces) forces in these areas are repositioned to allow our armed forces the freedom to operate against the BIFF,” Sol said.

“We repositioned the MILF from their communities to three sites,” he said.

The MILF move came as the military on Saturday said government soldiers had already killed 55 terrorists, including their supporters, during seven days of military offensives.

Col. Roseller Murillo, head of the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade, said the “enemy death toll” had been confirmed by various sources although only five bodies had been recovered so far, three on Saturday.

Murillo said soldiers conducting mopping up operations in the hinterland villages here also recovered an M-16 rifle and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher on Saturday.

Murillo said the operations against the armed men, led by the Maute brothers, are continuing.

A ranking MILF official said the armed group engaged in clashes with the military in Lanao del Sur province is composed of local recruits of the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq (IS).

Abdullah Macapaar, MILF commander known as Bravo, did not refer to the group as the Khilafah Islamiya Movement (KIM), a name that came from the military.

In a video statement sent by an Inquirer source, Macapaar said aside from skirmishes here and in Balindong and Bacolod towns, the IS-inspired armed group is also behind Wednesday’s ambush on a military convoy in Barangay Bubong in Balindong. One soldier was killed in the ambush, according to the military.

He said MILF forces in Lanao have nothing to do with the violence.

“The MILF is talking with the government, and as long as they are on the track of peace, we will keep a defensive stance,” he added. Nash B. Maulana, Richel Umel and Edwin Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao