Army says capture of BIFF camps will weaken the group

MAGUINDANAO --- Authorities are preparing for a rampage by the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters following the takeover by soldiers of its two enclaves in the province early Tuesday.Soldiers are now in control of the BIFF camps, located at the border of Salibo and Saidona towns in the second district of Maguindanao.Six militants, initially identified only as Awar, Mantato, Sukarno, Badrudin, Izhak and Guiapar, were killed in firefights before the camps were cleared from BIFF occupation by personnel of the Army’s 2ndMechanize Battalion, a component-unit of the 6thInfantry Division.The commander of 6thID, Major Gen. Arnel Dela Vega, said Wednesday residents in the two towns have warned of a plot by the BIFF to avenge its losses in its latest encounters with the military.Dela Vega and the commanding officer of the 2ndMechanize Battalion, Lt. Col. Alvin Iyog, presented to reporters on Tuesday afternoon 18 firearms and about 100 kilos of gun parts and materials for improvised explosive devices that were found in two gunsmith shops in the BIFF camps.The BIFF, led by clerics who got booted from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front for violation of MILF rules and other heinous offenses, operates in the fashion of the Islamic State.Its two camps the military now control were common lairs of the leaders of its three factions -- Abu Toraife, Bongos and Karialan. They are all wanted for multiple murders, frustrated murders, arson and other crimes.All three of them are Imams, eloquent in stoking public animosity to non-Muslims and in inciting dissent against the government. It seems they have reunited. Our operations against them are being assisted by local officials and barangay leaders. We are thankful to these patriotic people, Dela Vega said Wednesday.Dela Vega said Tuesday’s takeover of the BIFF strongholds by soldiers will weaken the group tactically.The BIFF, which uses the Islamic State flag, is feared for its enforcement of a Taliban-style justice system in far-flung areas, which local folk detest for being primitive and barbaric.The group is also feared for its practice of venting ire on non-military targets to avenge the deaths of members in encounters with the police and the military.Chief Superintendent Graciano Mijares, director of the Police Regional Office-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said the Maguindanao provincial police deployed early Wednesday plainclothes agents to public places vulnerable to BIFF bomb attacks.Mijares said their security efforts are coordinated closely with local government units and the 6thID.