Terror groups behind Bukidnon bus blast

From Sun Star-Cagayan de Oro (Nov 11): Terror groups behind Bukidnon bus blast

A RANKING military official confirmed Monday that a terrorist organization may be behind the November 6 bombing of a passenger bus in Barangay Dologon, Maramag, Bukidnon.

Citing a police intelligence report, Lieutenant General Aurelio Baladad, commander of the Philippine Army’s Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom), said authorities are looking at the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) as the perpetrator of the explosion from an improvised explosive device (IED) that left four of the more than 30 passengers injured.

During his visit to the 4th Infantry Division (4ID) headquarters at Camp Edilberto Evangelista on Monday, November 10, Baladad told reporters that the BIFF’s Special Operations Group carried out the attack.

The BIFF is a breakaway group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that was organized in 2008 and whose goal is independence for the Bangsamoro people and domain while rejecting the ongoing crafting of the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

Ameril Umbra Kato leads the BIFF.

In a previous article, Lieutenant Colonel Jose Eriel Niembra, of the 58th Infantry Battalion, was quoted as saying that another extremist group, the Khalifa Islamiah Mindanao (KIM), carried out the attack.

Based on the fragments collected by investigators from the blast site, the evidence has pointed to the terrorist cells operating in Mindanao.

Earlier, Inspector Jose Regner Sevillano, Maramag municipal police deputy chief, said the Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) 204, named after the bus number, found out that the IED was primarily composed of a 60 mm mortar and a cellphone circuit board.

Major Christian Uy, 4ID spokesman, said that according to the information gathered by the military, the two groups are collaborating in committing terror activities in Mindanao.

“Actually, the [IED] came from BIFF, but it has ties with Khalifa Islamiah Mindanao,” Uy told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro on Monday.

The website trackingterrorism.org said the KIM, a new al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militant group led by an Afghan-trained cleric, Humam Abdul Najid, has been fighting for the declaration of Mindanao as a separate religious state.

“The [KIM] is described as an ‘umbrella organization’ of local operatives of Jemaah Islamiyah, the BIFF and the bandit group Abu Sayyaf,” the website said.

Baladad said the perpetrators did not come from his area of responsibility but from the western Mindanao area.

The Eastmincom covers the Northern Mindanao, Davao and Caraga regions and is composed of the 4th and 10th Infantry Divisions.

Baladad said the law enforcement agencies already have the identification of the suspects “because this is a terroristic activity” but the police are working toward going after the perpetrators as the lead agency.

“We are [supporting] the police on this (investigation),” he added.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cagayan-de-oro/local-news/2014/11/11/terror-groups-behind-bukidnon-bus-blast-375830