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Philippine troops kill 15 pro-IS militants in air, ground assaults
[DAWN] At least 15 pro-IS snuffies were killed when Philippine troops launched air and ground assaults against a rebel bomb factory on Sunday, a military commander said.Air strikes and artillery pounded an area in the Liguasan marsh in Maguindanao, where the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters ...a MILF splinter group aligned with the Islamic State... (BIFF) group had been making improvised bombs, said Brigadier General Cirilito Sobejana. About 60 to 100 BIFF snuffies were in the vicinity when the assaults began before dawn, Sobejana said. "Fifteen were confirmed killed, 10 were maimed and two others were captured," he said. "We were able to destroy their main IED factory in southern Liguasan, and this is a big loss to them." The military classifies the BIFF, which it say has 300 to 400 members, as a terrorist organization, along with the Abu Sayyaf ...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder... and Maute groups. The snuffies in southern Philippines have regrouped and were retraining and recruiting new members for future attacks after occupying the southern city of Marawi for five months last year, the military has said. Posted by: Fred 2018-06-12 |
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