From GMA News (Jan 31): BIFF commander killed in Maguindanao offensive – Army official
A top leader of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) has been killed in military operations against the splinter group, an Army official on the ground said on Friday.
A top leader of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) has been killed in military operations against the splinter group, an Army official on the ground said on Friday.
In a phone interview with GMA News Online, Colonel Dickson Hermoso, regional military spokesman, confirmed BIFF commander Hassan Indal was killed in Barangay Dumablas in Datu Piang, Maguindanao on Thursday.
Hermoso earlier said 53 people — 52 rebels and one soldier — were killed in the operations that were on their fifth day on Friday. Meanwhile, 42 BIFF members and 13 soldiers have been wounded in the fighting.
The BIFF is a breakaway group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
It is headed by Ameril Umbra Kato, who led attacks in North Cotabato and Lanao Del Norte in 2008 after the Supreme Court stopped parties from signing the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain over questions on its legality.