Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Southeast Asia

Foreign peace monitors depart southern Philippines after nearly 2 decades

2022-07-17

[BenarNews] A Malaysian-led international peace monitoring group has departed from the southern Philippines after the administration of Rodrigo Duterte, who left office late last month, decided their presence was no longer needed, officials said Friday.

The peacekeeping force, known as the International Monitoring Team (IMT) and tasked with safeguarding a ceasefire agreement between the Philippine government and former Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas, departed the country from Cotabato City to little fanfare last month. The monitors had operated in the southern Mindanao region for nearly two decades.

Naguib Sinarimbo, a front man for the former MILF rebels, confirmed the withdrawal to BenarNews and said the IMT wanted to alter some of the terms of their agreement. He did not elaborate.

"While it has not yet been resolved, they have decided to pull out their contingent. Their authority to stay has also expired," Sinarimbo said. He said IMT could operate again in the Philippines subject to a government review.

The IMT, commanded by Maj. Gen. Hamdan Ismail, officially pulled out at the end of June.

In a message before his departure, which was made available to the press on Friday, Ismail said the bond between the Philippines and Malaysia had grown stronger since IMT’s stay in Mindanao.

"I wish that your dreams and my dreams of achieving lasting peace in this part of the region can be realized in the near future," Ismail added.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front signed a peace agreement with the central government in 2014, ending its long-running separatist insurgency in Mindanao. Malaysia had brokered the peace negotiations, and its participation evolved to include the monitoring of the interim ceasefire pact forged by both sides about two decades ago.

Representatives from Libya, Brunei, and Japan were included in the Malaysian-led mission, which also monitored the humanitarian, rehabilitation and development aspects of the grinding of the peace processor. The peacekeeping contingent also ensured the protection of civilians in areas where the rebels operated.

Brig. Gen. Antonio Nafarrete, who headed the government’s ceasefire team, expressed the administration’s gratitude for the IMT’s peacekeeping efforts in Mindanao.

"Thank you very much. We recognized the IMT’s invaluable contribution in sustaining the gains of the Bangsamoro grinding of the peace processor as the team nears the end of its tour of duty," he said.

WHAT WILL MARCOS DO?
It remains unclear whether Duterte’s successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., will extend IMT’s peacekeeping tenure.

Critics say his father and namesake, the Philippines’ longtime dictator, led massive military drives in the south and many people either died or disappeared during his time in office from 1965 to 1986.

The former rebels, for one, campaigned against Marcos Jr. Its leader, Murad Ebrahim (whose real name is Ahod Balawag Ebrahim), had blamed Marcos’ father and the military under the late dictator of ransacking Moslem areas and massacring entire communities. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front was formed, in part, to fight these alleged atrocities, while also seeking independence.

The IMT’s strength at one time stood at 60, but it gradually decreased as tension and fighting reduced and peace began to take hold. In March, the government informed the IMT it would no longer extend the mission.

The front’s ceasefire chief, Butch Malang, said the organization remains committed as ever in strengthening the joint peace mechanisms.

"We also take this opportunity to strengthen further our common commitment, teamwork, and dedication to work together with all our partners for a stronger proactive ceasefire accord during the post-agreement period of the grinding of the peace processor between the government and the MILF," said Malang.

"The MILF’s adherence to the ceasefire has been a gradual success but was collectively realized due to the strong cooperation and partnership of security forces, local governments, and communities on the ground," he added.

Link

Southeast Asia

5-year-old Killed, 3 Family Members Injured in Southern Philippine Bus Bombing

2022-01-12

[BenarNews] A 5-year-old boy was killed and six people, including his two younger siblings, were maimed when a bomb went kaboom! aboard a bus on Tuesday in the southern Philippines, a region where armed holy warrior groups are active, military officials said.

The Mindanao Star Bus was traveling to Cotabato City when it was rocked by the earth-shattering kaboom near Aleosan town, injuring four children and three adults, said Lt. Col. John Baldomar, the front man of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, which has jurisdiction over the area.

"The loud explosion was heard coming from the back of the bus," Baldomar said, adding the boy later died in a hospital.

An Aleosan town police front man said the bomb had been placed "where there were a lot of people sitting," Agence La Belle France-Presse news agency reported.

Baldomar said those injured, including an infant and a 3-year-old, were being treated at regional hospitals.

The state-run Philippine News Agency (PNA) reported the children were siblings of the boy who was killed and were being treated for injuries along with their father.

"My boy died due to multiple shrapnel wounds in different parts of his body," Haron Solaiman, said in a radio interview, according to PNA.

The bus was traveling from the southern city of Davao, President Rodrigo Duterte’s hometown, along the highway near Aleosan town where the blast occurred early Tuesday, Baldomar said. Following the blast, army and police ordnance Sherlocks combed the area for evidence.

POST-BLAST INVESTIGATION
"It’s hard to come up with suspects until such time that we are able to identify the components and the type of explosive that was used," Baldomar said. "The post-blast investigation is ongoing to determine the type of explosive that was used."

No one grabbed credit for the attack, but similar bombings in the past have been blamed on bully boyz linked to the Islamic State

...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
, according to officials.

Local Army Col. Jo Gonzales, a military brigade commander, told BenarNews that he suspected that the blast could be the handiwork ofMoro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The MILF signed a peace deal with Manila and controls a Moslem autonomous area in the south.

"It’s under investigation. We are not discounting the involvement of the BIFF and Daulah Islamiyah groups," he said. The Daulah Islamiyah is the Philippine name for Islamic State (IS).

At least two BIFF factions have professed allegiance to the Islamic State.

In October 2010, 10 people were killed when a bomb destroyed a passenger bus in a nearby Matalam town, North Cotabato province.

More recently, BIFF bully boyz carried out two roadside kaboomings in 2021 that killed three and injured many others in the south. In 2019, the group carried out a series of kabooms, targeting a market and a restaurant that injured more than two dozen people.

Link

Southeast Asia

Filipino Muslims vote on self-government in Bangsamoro plebiscite

2019-01-22

[Business Mirror] Amid fear of violence, Philippine election and security officials gave assurances everything is set for the historic plebiscite on the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), with 2.1 million voters in Mindanao deciding whether it will be ratified or not. Over the weekend, around 20,000 policemen and soldiers were deployed in Mindanao.

Residents of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), Isabela City in Basilan and Cotabato City will head to polling centers on Monday — the first of a two-part process — for the ratification of the BOL.

Tension ran high in Cotabato City, where many factors have been vocal in opposing inclusion in the expanded autonomous region to be known as BARMM, for Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Cotabato City is one of two cities included in the areas of plebiscite despite being excluded from the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

As concern built up in the city, the rest of the plebiscite areas seemed headed for one of the most peaceful political exercises in contrast to previously bloody political showdowns.

Link

Southeast Asia

Cotobato mall bombing suspects caught on security cam

2019-01-07

[Inquirer] Philippine police on Friday released video images of two men suspected of carrying out the New Year’s Eve mall bombing in Cotabato City that killed two people and injured 34 others.

Police spokesman Oliver Enmodias showed media the images of the two suspects, each carrying a bag, as they entered the mall. The male suspects placed a bag next to the lotto outlet and baggage counter on the second floor of the mall minutes before an improvised explosive device blew up outside the mall around 1:50pm. Bomb experts later discovered an unexploded second bomb on the second floor.

Enmodias said, “[The images of the two suspects] were clearly captured by CCTV and we have strong evidence they were behind the bombing.”

Police have appealed to the public for help in locating the suspects, which came days before the holding of a plebiscite on a law that will give Muslims an autonomous homeland in Mindanao. Moro Islamic Liberation Front chair Murad Ebrahim condemned the attack, saying it was “an act of cowardice, inhuman and atrocious.”

Soccsksargen police director Eliseo Tam Rasco said the task force was still hunting seven cohorts of the suspects, three of them women. He did not reveal the cohorts’ roles in the blast.

Link

Southeast Asia

Two killed, 32 injured in Mindanao mall blast

2019-01-01

Happy New Year from the Religion of Peace™

[Express] Two people were killed and 32 wounded after an explosion rocked a busy shopping center in Cotabato City in Mindanao, after an unidentified male was seen dropping a wrapped box before fleeing in the area, according to witnesses. Local media reports said that the unidentified male was seen dropping a box outside the busy South Seas Mall.

Cotabato Philippine National Police spokesman Roel Zafra said the blast took place at 1:50pm local time. The explosion rocked the city as it prepared for its New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Two people have been pronounced dead, while another 32 injured people were rushed to a variety of hospitals, including the Cotabato Medical Specialist Hospital, Maternity Hospital and Cotabato Medical Center Hospital.

Zafra said initial investigations have revealed that an unidentified male dropped a wrapped box in the area. Local reports saud that seconds later, the box exploded. The PNP said the type of explosive is yet to be determined but that it was dropped in the mall’s baggage area.

Police are trying to determine "if the blast was caused by an improvised explosive device or illegal powerful firecrackers that accidentally went off in the area."

Meanwhile, in a Facebook post, Cotabato Mayor Frances Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi said, "I strongly condemn the bombing incident that happened in front of South Seas Mall today, a day before the New Year, the took away several innocent lives and injured dozen others. This is not just another terroristic act but an act against humanity. I cannot fathom how such evil exists in this time of merry making."

Link

Southeast Asia

Two teens claiming IS ties surrender to Cotabato mayor

2018-12-24

[PhilStar] Two teens claiming to be Islamic State terrorists who had balked at bombing targets in central Mindanao during the holidays surrendered to Cotabato City mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi on Sunday. She presented the pair to reporters in the presence of top police and military officials. The two are still minors, their parents said.

The two initially claimed links with the Dawlah Islamiyah, also known as the Maute terror group based in Lanao del Sur, and the Ansa’r Kilafah Philippines, or AKP, operating in Sarangani province and in General Santos City. Both groups are using the black IS flag as banner.

Officials told reporters the parents of the two alleged terrorists decided to turn them over to the city government out of fear of the mayor's iron-fisted policy in maintaining law and order. The teens were said to have undergone training in the fabrication of improvised explosive devices in the seaside Palimbang town in Sultan Kudarat province.

Personnel of the 1st Marine Brigade killed seven terrorists in Barangay Butril in Palimbang in 2015 in a raid that led to the fall of an AKP camp there where IEDs, firearms and a black IS flag were recovered.

Army intelligence sources said the pair also confessed to links with the now detained TJ Macabalang, one of the alleged plotters of the September 2, 2016 IED attack in Davao City that left 17 people dead and hurt more than 60 others. Macabalang and two accomplices, Wendel Apostol Facturan and Musali Mustapha, were arrested in Cotabato City more than a month later.

Link

Southeast Asia

Maute rebels take slaves as Marawi battle intensifies

2017-06-28

Good photos and video report at the link. These reporters have some gonads

[Sky News] Over four days in Marawi, Sky News watched the Philippine military carry out repeated air strikes, bombers wheeling overhead and diving towards targets in the city. The fighting is intense and sustained - mortars and helicopters mounted with machine guns are being used, as well as armored personnel carriers and ground troops.

Philippine forces train to combat militants in jungle conditions, but here they are facing urban warfare, fighting street-to-street, at times house-to-house. We saw armored vehicles reinforced with planks of wood in an improvised attempt to withstand anti-tank weaponry and rocket-propelled grenades fired by the rebels.

Drone footage from inside rebel-held territory showed a mosque believed to be used as a base - local fighters are also said to have knowledge of tunnel networks and bomb shelters beneath the city. The mosque has not been targeted by the military, but whole streets around it have been flattened. We saw large fires burning in the ruins.

One commanding officer told us some of the trapped civilians are being used as slaves and orderlies by the rebels, with some being forced to wear black robes and act as human shields. Lt Col Christopher Tampus, commander of 1st Infantry Battalion said, "Those hostages are being dressed, we have some visuals of this. They are being dressed with a black-like robe. We believe these are civilians because we can easily see how they move."

We set out to reach a family we had heard was still in touch with relatives trapped inside, but as we ran across the street to their house a bullet landed less than a meter from our team. It appeared we were being targeted.

We planned to stay in the building until the threat outside subsided, but then a fire started. It was not clear whether deliberately or not. We had to get out, but the only way was back across the same street. We lined up to make the run, one at a time, into our vehicle, crouching low inside until we had reached relative safety.

We passed a dead dog, abandoned in the road, and black graffiti as a reminder of what they were running from. "WELCOME ISIS!" one scrawled message read. Another had a picture of a skull and cross-bones beneath an ISIS slogan.

We spoke to the uncle of a young man killed fighting for the Maute group, who told us there are many more like him. He said, "In my village, the number of recruited were 10. Actually there are lots of them that have already been killed in the fighting in Marawi. There are a lot because Abdullah Maute targeted Cotabato City. He convinced a lot of teenagers..."

On Sunday, a temporary ceasefire was declared to mark the end of Ramadan, and allow a humanitarian pause. A delegation of religious leaders and volunteers, armed only with megaphones, headed out across the front line to try to negotiate the release of some of the trapped civilians. But as we waited for news, a number of shots were fired into our street, forcing everyone to take cover behind parked cars.

Three hours later, the rescue teams re-emerged, bringing with them a 14-month old girl and her mother, father, grandfather, and aunt. The family had hidden in their employer's basement for 33 days. The 14-month-old girl and her family spent 33 days hidden in a basement

His daughter-in-law had given birth while they were trapped, but the baby did not survive. The teams also brought out the body of a 72-year-old man, who had suffered a stroke, and died before he could be reached.

Even as the rescued family was being taken to hospital, the fighting in Marawi resumed. The military insists the rebel leadership is crumbling and victory is irreversible but declined to say when it might come.

Link

Southeast Asia

Abu Sayyaf bomb kills 12-year-old girl

2017-01-18

[Gulf Today] A 12-year-old girl was killed and her mother seriously injured when a roadside bomb believed to have been planted by the Abu Sayyaf exploded in Mindanao. Police said the victims were gathering root crops in a village along the road in Lamitan City, Basilan when the bomb exploded on Sunday afternoon.

Police blamed the Abu Sayyaf for the blast, saying it was intended to divert the intensified search and destroy operation launched against them in the mountains in Lamitan's neighboring town of Sumisip.

Meanwhile, President Rodrigo Duterte confirmed the arrest in Malaysia of the son of a Maguindanao lawmaker for his alleged involvement in the bombing of a popular night market in Davao City, Duterte's hometown last September. He identified the suspect as Datu Mohammad Abduljabbar Sema, who has been detained by Malaysian authorities since last November for his alleged link to the Davao City bombing that killed 15 people and injured more than 60 others.

Sema is the son of Muslimin Sema, the head of a faction of the divided Moro National Liberation Front as well as the former mayor of Cotabato City, and Congresswoman Bi Sandra Sema of Maguindanao.

With Sema's arrest, Duterte said all suspects have been accounted for in the bombing blamed on members of the Matute Group which has pledged allegiance to the Daesh.

Secretary Delfin Lorenzana of the Department of National Defense said the government has requested Malaysia to extradite Sema back to the Philippines so he could face trial.

Link

Southeast Asia

Abu Sayyaf man killed in Mindanao encounter

2016-10-31

[GULFTODAY.AE] The military reported that a member of the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf
...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder...
terror group was slain in an encounter on the island province of Sulu in Mindanao even as it announced the arrest of four other suspects in the Sept.2 terror bombing of a popular night market in Davao City, the hometown of President Rodrigo "Rody" Duterte.

Brigadier General Arnel dela Vega, the chief of the Joint Task Force Sulu, said the slain krazed killer was among the eight heavily gunnies who clashed with an elite team of Army Scout Rangers in a village in the town of Indanan at dawn on Sunday.

Dela Vega said the clash occurred when a team of Scout Rangers was sent to check on the complaint of residents regarding the presence of eight heavily armed Abu Sayyaf turbans in their village.

When they fled, the turbans left behind their slain comrade along with an M16 assault rifle to which was attached a grenade launcher as well as an improvised bomb, Dela Vega said.

The killing brought to 37 the total corpse count suffered by the Abu Sayyaf since Duterte ordered the military in July to launch an intensified "search and destroy" operation against the Abu Sayyaf who operate with impunity on the island provinces of Sulu and Basilan
...Basilan is a rugged, jungle-covered island in the southern Philippines. It is a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf, bandidos, and maybe even orcs. Most people with any sense travel with armed escorts...
A total of 15 soldiers were also killed with 28 others maimed, Dela Vega said as he vowed: "The focused military operation will continue until we deal a crippling blow to the Abu Sayyaf and rescue their remaining hostages."

Regional and Filipino security experts have confirmed the link of the Abu Sayyaf to the global Al Qaeda terror network through the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah murderous Moslems.

Meanwhile,
...back at the palazzo, Count Guido stepped from behind the suit of armor, rapier in hand. Ciccolini snarled and reached for his own weapon...
Colonel Benjamin Hao, the Army front man, reported the arrest of four other suspects in the deadly on Sept.2 terrorist bombing of a night market in Davao City that killed at least 15 people and maimed 68 others.

Hao said the suspects were members of the Dawla Islamiya Fi Cotabato-Maute Group, a criminal organization that claims to have links with the ISIS faceless myrmidons in the Middle East and the Abu Sayyaf.

The suspects, Hao said, were tossed in the slammer
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
in separate raids in Cotabato City that also resulted in the confiscation of several short firearms and hand grenades based on search warrants issued by a regional court.

Link

Southeast Asia

Davao City blast suspects caught in Cotabato City

2016-10-08

[Business World Online] Philippine defense secretary Lorenza presented on Friday three terror suspects in connection with the September 2 bombing of the Davao City night market. The suspects were arrested by security forces on Tuesday at a checkpoint in Cotabato City.

The suspects are TJ Tagadaya P. Macabalang (also known as Abutufail or Triggerman), Wendel A. Facturan (a.k.a. Muhaimin or Bomb Courier), and Musali U. Mustapha (a.k.a. Abu Hurayrah or Documenter), and they are said to be members of what is called the Maute Group.

An initial investigation found that Macabalang detonated the bomb that was placed in position by Facturan where Mustapha "documented" the blast and the people's reaction with his mobile phone. Two videos were presented to the media. The first video was the incident as recorded, and the second showed Facturan, holding a rifle before a Daesh flag.

Lt. General Eduardo Ano said, "There are indications that the Maute Group is trying to align themselves with ISIS as seen in the recorded video. We have also established their link with the Abu Sayyaf as they revealed their intention to disrupt he government's massive military operations in Sulu.

Secretary Lorenza said, "The Maute group's plan to bomb Davao City was conceived more or less two weeks before the actual incident. Accordingly, the plan was conceptualized to disrupt and divert the government’s massive military operations in Sulu that started in July 2016 and in Central Mindanao that started in August 2016.

"Moreover, the attack was conducted in retaliation for the heavy casualties suffered by the terror group in Butig, Lanao del Sur. The operations in August 2016 also resulted in the capture of eight Maute members in a checkpoint on August 22. The arrested members later bolted out of prison on August 27."

A follow-up operation led to the arrest of Macabalang's father, Teng Macabalang, who had both high-powered and short firearms, ammunitions, and IED materials.

Link

Southeast Asia

Mayor: Group linked to Daesh active in Cotabato City

2015-12-03

[Inquirer] Armed men linked to Daesh have been recruiting Cotabato City youths to undergo training on bomb-making, Mayor Japal Guiani Jr. has confirmed despite military and police denials. He said, "I was told about this in the past and that information was confirmed with the death of armed men in Palimbang, three of whom were from Cotabato City."

He was referring to the November 27 clash in the town in Sultan Kudarat province between Philippine troops and militants reportedly belonging to the Ansar al-Khilafah Philippines. The military had earlier reported recovering Daesj flags and firearms from the battleground.

Guiani said he is alarmed and "deeply disturbed" by the information he received that at least 30 young residents had been recruited by the Daesjinspired Ansar al-Khalifah Philippines. They were promised food and pocket money while training for bomb-making in the hinterlands of Palimbang.

Guiani said the group "targets minors, out-of-school youths and teenagers who are fond of reading the Koran." Some of them had told their parents that they would study Islamic theology in General Santos City and Sultan Kudarat, he said.

Maj. Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan told reporters over the weekend that authorities had yet to find solid proof that Daesh had gained a foothold in his area of jurisdiction, which includes Sultan Kudarat.

The recovery of Daesh flags at the site of the Palimbang clash wasn't enough for the military to draw a conclusion, Pangilinan said. The militants might have just idolized Daesh so much that they decided to use their flag, he added. Using the flag could only mean that Ansar al-Khalifah Philippines wanted to draw national and global attention, he said.

Link

Southeast Asia

MILF invites Pope to visit Mindanao

2014-12-28

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), formerly the largest rebel group in the Philippines, has invited Pope Francis to take a side trip to the south during his visit to the country next month.

MILF political affairs vice chairman Ghadzali Jaafar confirmed the invitation Thursday, saying the pope had been invited to Cotabato City in Maguindanao province. He said the MILF’s invitation to Pope Francis was conveyed through Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Cardinal Quevedo.

Jaafar declined to provide details on the content of the letter, written by MILF Chairman Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim, and whether it had been received by Pope Francis.

Meanwhile, the Imam Council of the Philippines has praised the inclusion of two Muslim leaders in the pontiff's January 18 dialogue with Christian and Buddhist leaders at the University of Santo Tomas.

Link

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