Usman, 5 foreign terrorists with BIFF breakaway group, says AFP spokesman

From InterAksyon (Mar 4): Usman, 5 foreign terrorists with BIFF breakaway group, says AFP spokesman



File photo of Basit Usman from US State Department

 

Filipino bomb-making expert Basit Usman, the sidekick of slain international terror suspect Zulkifli Abdhir alias Marwan, and five foreign terrorists working with him are being protected by an armed group that broke away from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), the target of an ongoing "all-out” military offensive in Central Mindanao, the spokesman of the Armed Forces said Wednesday.

Usman, who survived the January 25 Special Action Force operation to get Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan,” in Mamasapano, Maguindanao and the five foreigners -- four Indonesians and an “Arab-looking individual,” all linked to the Jemaah Islamiyah network -- are now with the Justice for Islamic Movement (JIM) led by Mohammad Ali Tambako, according to AFP's Colonel Restituto Padilla. 

He said the information that the military had received from informants in Mamasapano, Pikit, Shariff Aguak and other Maguindanao towns indicated that JIM, which split from the BIFF in November 2013, had about 70 followers.

The BIFF was formed by Ameril Umbra Kato, former commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s 105th Base Command. Kato broke away from the MILF after disagreeing over the direction of the peace talks with the government.

[Video report]

Meanwhile, Padilla also clarified that the bomb-making devices seized from an abandoned camp discovered in Maguindanao on Monday and earlier reported to belong to the BIFF actually were actually owned by JIM.

The AFP spokesman said JIM was protecting Basit's group so that the latter could train JIM on how to make bombs.‘Yon po ang kanilang nakukuhang benepisyo sa pagpapatuloy ng kanilang proteksyon sa grupo ni Basit."

"At kung hindi natin uusigin ito at hindi natin bibigyan ng pansin maaring hindi magwawakas ang laging pambobomba sa iba’t-ibang lugar lalo na sa public places na ang nagiging biktima ay kaawa-awang mga sibilyan [And if we do not pursue them they would continue bombing public places and victimize innocent civilians]," said Padilla.

This, he said, was the reason for the relentless military operations that had, thus far, displaced more than 40,000 people and led Maguindanao officials to place the province under a state of calamity.

“Ang atin pong opensiba ay isinasagawa lang natin dahil po gusto nating magkaroon ng patuloy na katahimikan sa mga lugar na ito [Our offensive is being undertaken because we want continuing peace in these places],” Padilla said. 

He added that the decision to stop the offensive would depend on ground commanders.  

 

“Base sa kanilang mission na naibigay, kung sila ay magsasabi na na-achieve na nila ang kanilang objectives, sila ay magsasabi na kailangan nang itigil [Based on their mission, they will determine if they have achieved their objectives and say if the operations have to stop],” he said.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/106258/usman-5-foreign-terrorists-with-biff-breakaway-group-says-afp-spokesman