BIFF is now weak, disabled with the fall of Tambako - Army

From the Philippine News Agency (Mar 17): BIFF is now weak, disabled with the fall of Tambako - Army

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao -- The military here said the arrest of Mohammad Ali Tambako has weakened a faction of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), an Army spokesperson said.

Captain Joann Petinglay, speaking for the Task Force Central (TFC), a military-led task force tasked to neutralize the BIFF which the Army said has been providing haven for suspected international terrorists in Maguindanao.

“The group has been weakened, even disabled with the arrest of Tambako because he was the one sourcing funds for the group’s terror activities,” Petinglay said of Tambako’s group – the United Justice for Islamic Movement (UJIM).

Citing intelligence information, Petinglay said Tambako and his men left Maguindanao probably on the second week of the three-week old massive law enforcement operations in what the Army termed as “SPMS box.’

It refers to the four adjoining towns of Shariff Aguak, Pagatin (Datu Saudi), Mamasapano and Shariff Saydona, all in the second district of Maguidnanao.

With Tambako in the hands of the government, TFC will continue to hunt down Amin Baco, another trusted man of Tambako and Filipino bomb expert Basit Usman and the remnants of BIFF still in Maguindanao.

Tambako and his about 100 armed followers were believed to be among the armed men who clashed with Police Special Action Force on January 25 in Mamasapano, Maguindanao. The police commando succeeded in neutralizing suspected Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias “Marwan” but lost 44 policemen.

Tambako, alias “Ali,” and four of his men were arrested in Barangay Calumpang, General Santos City on Sunday night following a week-long surveillance and information provided by police informants and some Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) religious leaders.

Joint police and military agents also seized three hand grenades and two hand guns from them, according to Colonel Renato Padua.

Colonel Padua, commander of Joint Task Force GenSan (JTFG), told DXMS Radyo Bida, Tambako’s group was surprised that they failed to put a fight or resistance.

About 60 police and military personnel surrounded the three tricycles at past 9 a.m. along a road leading to the General Santos City seaport.

An Army intelligence officer said a police asset who knew Tambako’s movement was in the arresting team when the UJIM leader was arrested.

The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), the lead team in capturing Tambako, was armed with a warrant of arrest issued by RTC-15 Judge George Jabido. Tambako was tagged in the beheading of farmer Ricardo Dionio in Midsayap, North Cotabato in 2013 when his group attacked three adjoining villages and held hostage, later released, 13 teachers.

Petinglay said despite the arrest of Tambako the TFC will continue its law enforcement operations against high-value terrorists in Maguindanao until all of them are neutralized.

Earlier, AFP chief Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang, said once the operations are completed, the TFC will proceed to the next phase of the operation which is focused on peace and development of the affected communities.

To date, at least 20,000 families or about 120 families have been in 72 evacuation sites in Maguindanao’s 13 municipalities.

The government is attending to the needs of IDPs, according to Regional Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) which has administrative supervision over Maguindanao.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=745072