Seven former Muslim rebels have been killed in the southern Philippines, military and police authorities said yesterday, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.
They said the dead were all members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, formerly the country’s largest guerrilla group but which began decommissioning weapons last month under the terms of a 2014 peace treaty.
A pro-IS armed group called Dawlah Islamiyah attacked an MILF camp near Shariff Saydona, Maguindanao last Friday, sparking fighting lasting several hours, said Lt. Col. Ernesto Gener, commander of a local army battalion.
IS claimed responsibility in a communique seen by SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist activity.
The jihadists said eight MILF members were killed, but local police commander Lt. Col. Arnold Santiago said authorities were only aware of seven deaths.
Locals said they saw seven bodies being loaded onto a boat on a riverbank in Shariff Saydona, about 900 kilometers south of Manila.
MILF spokesman Von al Haq declined to comment.
The MILF peace pact ended decades of Muslim rebellion that had claimed 150,000 lives by government estimates in Mindanao, home to the Catholic nation’s large Islamic minority.
The MILF was put in charge of Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao as part of the peace accord, but
President Duterte said IS is attempting to set up a Southeast Asian stronghold there.
Hundreds of pro-IS gunmen seized Marawi City in May 2017, sparking a five-month battle that left more than 1,000 people dead.
The MILF, sometimes with Philippine military help, has in recent years waged an armed campaign to flush out a number of pro-IS groups operating in the swampy farming region around Shariff Saydona. (AFP)
