BIFF bid to cut Maguindanao power fails after 3rd bombing

From the Business Mirror (Feb 9): BIFF bid to cut Maguindanao power fails after 3rd bombing

MEMBERS of the Bangsa-moro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) bombed a tower of the Transmission Commission (Transco) on Saturday in Maguindanao as the group continued terrorist activities in Central Mindanao, the military said.

The blasts, however, failed to topple down the tower at Kilometer 16, Barangay Ladia, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, said Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.

 

The latest attack came as the government ordered the police and military to continue law enforcement operations against BIFF members wanted for the beheading of two civilians and an attack on a village in North Cotabato in September last year.

The bombing was the fourth in less than a week, and it came in the aftermath of military operations in Maguindanao and North Cotabato less than two weeks ago wherein soldiers captured four BIFF camps and a bomb-making facility.

 

Hermoso said the latest bombing aimed at plunging Maguindanao into a power blackout happened at around 8:45 p.m., wherein the bandits exploded three homemade bombs into three of the four steels supporting the Transco tower.

 

“The bombing did not bring a brownout, but they attempted to bring down the tower,” Hermoso said.

 

“Three of the IEDs [improvised explosive devices] exploded, but the tower has four steel feet, so it was not cut or toppled down. We still have electricity,” he added.

 

The local military spokesman said the BIFF had bombed the tower at Barangay Ladia three times in the past already, but the tower never went down.

 

Hernando Iriberri said the attack was still in retaliation by the BIFF over the loss of its four camps to the military and over the more than 100 casualties that it sustained during the operations.

 

It was also a part of its continuing terrorism activities in Central Mindanao in support of its aim to establish an Islamic state in the country’s southern part.

 

Hermoso said the military and the police will continue their law-enforcement operations against the BIFF, as had been ordered by Presidential Peace Adviser Teresita Deles and Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II.

 

The two officials were in Maguindanao on Saturday.

 

“They told us the law-enforcement operations against the BIFF must not be stopped,” Hermoso said.

 

However, he said that the two also encouraged other armed groups in Mindanao to join the bandwagon for the framework agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

 

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