BIFM commander, 2 followers hurt in IED blast in Maguindanao

From the Philippine News Agency (Nov 26): BIFM commander, 2 followers hurt in IED blast in Maguindanao

Three members of the renegade Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement (BIFM), including a field commander, were wounded when the improvised bomb they were allegedly transporting prematurely exploded Monday morning, police and military officials said. Quoting initial field reports from the 1st Mechanized Infantry Brigade, Col. Prudencio Asto, speaking for the 6th Infantry Division, said Army investigators are looking at two possible angles in the 9 a.m. explosion. There were reports that the BIFM and its armed wing the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) were carrying the improvised bomb when it accidentally went off. Another possibility, Asto said, was that it was planted by groups hostile to the BIFM/BIFF along the route the guerrillas were using in remote village of Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao. Asto said the Army’s Mechanized Infantry Brigade which has jurisdiction over Datu Saudi would not just penetrate the blast site without prior coordinating with the joint ceasefire panels of the GPH Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). But Abu Misry Mama, BIFM/BIFF spokesperson, admitted there was an explosion but denied the bomb was being transported by their members. “Three of our companions, including Commander Karialan, were wounded in the explosion. The other two were our chief of staff and a political officer,” he said in a phone interview. Mama said the BIFF forces were walking toward Lower Salbu for an Islamic meeting using dried-up rice fields in Datu Saudi town when suddenly a bomb went off.   The BIFM and BIFF, which broke away from the MILF last year, are locked in a long standing family feud with several Muslim clans in Datu Saudi and Datu Piang, both in Maguindanao over control of large parcel of agricultural lands......

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