COTABATO CITY – The military launched airstrikes against Islamic State-inspired members of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in Maguindanao Saturday.
Capt. Arvin Encinas, head of the Army 6th Infantry Division Public Affairs Office, said the airstrikes in Barangay Tugal in Sultan-sa-Barongis in support of troops hunting more than 20 followers of Solaiman Hassan under the BIFF-Abu Toraife faction started at about 6 a.m.
“We are still monitoring the result of the operation,” Encinas said.
He said the operation was “surgical” in nature in which troops were under instruction to ensure safety of innocent civilians as much as possible.
The Toraife faction of the BIFF has been tagged as an IS-inspired band in Maguindanao.
Two other BIFF factions are likely inclined to join the fold of law if the proposed Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao is put in place and shows favorable functions, according to officials of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
The creation of BARMM is prescribed under Republic Act 11054 or the Bangsamoro Organic Law, which was ratified overwhelmingly in the Jan. 21 plebiscite across the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which the new entity will replace and absorb. (Ali Macabalang and Martin Sadongdong)