BIFF tagged in foiled Maguindanao roadside bombing
Mindanao Armed Conflict • 13:15 PM Sun Feb 21, 2021
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By:
John M. Unson
The roadside bomb was made of a mortar round and two anti-tank rockets. (From 6th ID Division Public Affairs Office)
MAGUINDANAO --- Authorities have tagged the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in Thursday’s foiled roadside bombing in Shariff Aguak town.
The improvised explosive device, rigged with a blasting contraption that can be detonated from a distance, was fashioned from an 81 millimeter mortar round and two anti-tank rockets.
“It was a `signature IED’of the BIFF. The bombing attempt occurred after seven BIFF members surrendered a week before in another municipality in Maguindanao,” Major Gen. Juvymax Uy of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division said Sunday.
The roadside bomb, placed inside a box, was found by passersby along a stretch of the Cotabato-Isulan Highway in Barangay Satan in Shariff Aguak, enabling bomb experts to promptly deactivate its detonator attached to a handheld two-way radio.
The BIFF has a reputation for setting off IEDs in public places to avenge deaths of members in clashes with pursuing state security forces.
Brig. Gen. Samuel Rodriguez, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, said Sunday the bombing attempt was apparently meant to create the impression that the BIFF is still capable of terror attacks despite the surrender of more than 70 members in the past six months.
“We are sure the BIFF was behind that supposed bombing in Shariff Aguak,” Rodriguez said.