IS link group blamed for grenade attacks in Maguindanao, NorCot

SHARIFF AGUAK, Maguindana – In an apparent diversionary tactics, outlawed armed group with IS links fired a rocket propelled grenade toward a private school in Datu Piang, Maguindanao Sunday night.According to Senior Supt. Agustin Tello, Maguindanao police director, nobody was injured in the grenade attack which came at 8 p.m. at Gani L. Abpi College compound in Barangay Buayan.The blast damaged glass panes and a vehicle parked near the building.No one has claimed responsibility but police and military authorities believed the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) which pledge allegiance to the IS was behind the attack as diversionary tactic.But the local police theorized that that grenade attack was an attempt to silence students practicing street dancing with huge drums and bugle instruments that emit powerful sounds that could have irritated the residents nearbyAlmost at the same time, unidentified men tossed a hand grenade toward the house of business couple Hayder and Samra Manibpal in Barangay Inug-og, Pikit, North Cotabato, according to Senior Inspector Rolly Castanares, town cop chief. No casualty was reported.Investigators could not say if the grenade attack in Pikit and Datu Piang were related.On Saturday night, BIFF hurled a grenade toward a detachment of the Army’s 57th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Timbangan in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao.Captain Arvin John Encinas, speaking for the 6thInfantry Division, said a soldier was slightly wounded in the blast.The military has claimed foreign fighters have been sighted with the BIFF Abu Torayfe faction now holed up in borders of Aleosan and Carmen, both in North Cotabato.Lt. Colonel Gerry Besana, chief of 6thCivil Military Operations (CMO), said the target of a series of air strikes since last week in North Cotabato have been hiding in caves in the mountain village of Tonganon, Aleosan.He said the surgical operation was well coordinated with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which signed a peace deal with Manila.Under the ceasefire accord, the MILF is to provide information and assistance to government forces in flushing terrorists and lawless elements in its area of operation.The twin operations in Maguindanao and North Cotabato was carried out after one BIFF Commander Bungos faction harassed 57thIB in Shariff Aguak and Datu Unsay towns in Maguindanao and sightings of Abu Torayfe with foreign fighters in North Cotabato.While no civilian casualties, the air strikes sent some 5,000 persons in two provinces fleeing to safer grounds. (Edwin O. Fernandez)