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Philippines to hunt down remaining BIFF rebels
Philippine military officials yesterday said they would hunt down remaining splinter groups of hardline Muslim militants after capturing their main camps in a week-long offensive. The threat posed by members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) has diminished due to the offensive that began Monday in remote parts of Mindanao, said Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala. He said, "They have split into smaller groups and further operations must be done to follow up." He said these operations would be "smaller in scale," adding that they would also be held in coordination with the main Muslim militant group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The operation against the BIFF began two days after the government and the MILF successfully concluded peace talks. The BIFF broke away from the MILF over the talks and has previously launched attacks to derail the peace process. At a military camp in the town of Awang, Philippine soldiers displayed items they recovered from the BIFF camps including bomb-making materials and photos showing young boys being trained as soldiers for the militant group. This supported accusations that the BIFF were using child soldiers and that three such youths were among the 53 militants killed in the recent offensive. Posted by: ryuge 2014-02-04 |
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