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Southeast Asia

Wanted BIFF militant surrenders in southern Philippines

2022-10-06

[BenarNews] An aide to one of the Philippines’ most wanted bomb-makers, the late hard boy Abdul Basit Usman, has surrendered to authorities in the volatile southern region of Mindanao, officials said Wednesday.

The suspect, identified as Manap Mamaluba, is a member of 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....
-linked Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters
...a MILF splinter group aligned with the Islamic State...
(BIFF) hard boy group and was on the run from authorities for years, according to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Mamaluba surrendered two weeks ago, but this was only made public after he was subjected to verification and questioning this week, said Nicanor Suarez, front man for the investigation bureau.

BIFF is a splinter of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a former separatist guerrilla group whose leaders now control an autonomous region in the southern Philippines. The surrender occurred in the area formally known as the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Moslem Mindanao (BAARM), according to a statement from the bureau.

"The surrender of Mamaluba was made possible through his uncle, a certain Commander Tiger of the MILF," Suarez said. "Currently, the subject is under the custody of the Municipality of Datu Abdullah Sangki."

The exact identity of Commander Tiger was not revealed, although he is believed to be one of the field commanders of the MILF in the southern province of Maguindanao, intelligence officials said.

Officials did not release more details about Mamaluba.

His boss, Usman, was a top hard boy who had made it onto the U.S. State Department’s list of wanted terrorists. Security experts say Usman had trained many Lions of Islam in bomb making, including those affiliated with Jemaah Islamiyah.

JI, an Indonesia-based hard boy group and the Southeast Asian affiliate of al-Qaeda, was blamed for the October 2002 Bali bombings - that country’s deadliest terror attack to date.

In January 2015, Usman escaped a raid by the police Special Action Force (SAF) in the town of Mamasapano in Mindanao that resulted in the death of Zulkifli bin Hir (alias Marwan), a Malaysian terror suspect who was hiding in the southern Philippines.

Forty-four SAF commandos were killed during the botched operation. They became caught in a deadly firefight with members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front who thought they had come under attack.

The Philippine military killed Usman three months later.

The BIFF, the splinter faction, has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State bad boy group, and many of its members are separately wanted for other crimes, including kidnapping for ransom and extortion.

Col. Abdulrasad Sirajan, the military’s regional front man, told BenarNews that their crackdown against Mamaluba’s colleagues was continuing but government forces remained open to those who were willing to surrender.

"Our operation is going on without rest, but on the other hand, we welcome those who want to live a normal life," he said, adding that about 360 BIFF fighters had surrendered since last year in Maguindanao.

In January 2021, BIFF Lions of Islam carried out two roadside kaboomings that killed three people and injured dozens more in the south.

In 2017, hundreds of pro-IS fighters from Southeast Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere took over the southern Philippine city of Marawi for five months. Some 1,200 people were killed in a battle that ensued between the Lions of Islam and government forces.

While BIFF did not send guerrillas to join that battle, it launched diversionary attacks at the time, according to officials.

Posted by:trailing wife

#5 Biff is in custody. Muffy is still on the run, evading police.

Posted by: ed in texas 2022-10-06 15:41

#4 Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Deactivated and disarmed. Some of the turbans have signed up for the local police and the military.

Posted by: trailing wife 2022-10-06 14:02

Posted by: Dron66046 2022-10-06 11:01

#2 ^^ (BIFF) hard boy group

Hmm.

Posted by: Snash Shairt9621 2022-10-06 09:30

#1 So MILF is now BIFF? The jokes just write themselves

Posted by: Jay-Dubya 2022-10-06 09:29

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