BIFF leader nabbed, son killed in Cotabato raid

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Combined Army and police operatives arrested here Tuesday night a senior official of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and killed his son for resisting arrest.

The arrested vice chairman for internal affairs of the BIFF, Hassan Indal, also known as Abu Azam, was cornered at his hideout in Barangay Kalanganan west of Cotabato City.

Indal did not resist arrest, but son, Alih, also a member of the BIFF, grabbed a rifle hidden in their house and opened fire at the raiding team, provoking a firefight that resulted to his death.

Indal, wanted for a string of criminal offenses, had been turned over to the office of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Cotabato City.

The joint Army-police raiding team found in his lair an M-16 assault rifle, a .45 caliber pistol and a fragmentation grenade.

Local police probers said the unlicensed firearms and the grenade recovered from Indal’s possession will be used as evidence for another criminal case to be filed against him.

The raid that led to the arrest of Indal was a joint operation of the CIDG, the Army’s 5th Special Forces Battalion, the 601st Brigade and intelligence units of the 6th Infantry Division.

Lt. Col. Ranulfo Sevilla, commander of the 5th SF Battalion, said barangay folks also helped in locating the whereabouts of Indal.

“He was immediately submitted for medical examination by a physician before he was turned over to the police,” Sevilla said.