DAVAO CITY—Reacting to Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s appeal to stop the spate of bombings in Mindanao, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) on Wednesday denied they plan to bomb Davao city.
“It’s a hoax. There’s no truth to that report. The BIFF has no involvement in the series of bombings in North Cotabato and elsewhere in Mindanao,” said BIFF spokesperson Abu Misry Mama in a phone interview with DavaoToday Wednesday.
“Please stop these attacks. You have to consider the lives of civilians,” Duterte reportedly said.
But Mama denied all allegations that BIFF were involved in the twin bombings in Kabacan and M’lang towns recently which claimed the lives of innocent civilians and wounded others whom majority of the victims are teenagers.
“We don’t attack civilians. We only target the military,” stressed Mama.
Mama said that Duterte should, instead, appeal to the Armed Forces of the Philippines to “stop their terroristic acts in Mindanao” as he recalled in 2003 that it was the military who conducted a series of bomb attacks to sow terror in Mindanao.
Mama was referring to Oplan Greenbase, a top-secret government operation of then Arroyo administration to sow terror in Mindanao by staging series of bomb attacks in an attempt to draw funds from anti-terrorist organizations and pin the blame to Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
“So before they will point their finger to us, they should check their facts first. It’s easy to pin the blame to BIFF but the public should never forget the history of the past,” said Mama.
Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesperson of the Philippine Army ‘s 6th Infantry Division said the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) used in Kabacan bombing came from the BIFF. (davaotoday.com)
