MAGUINDANAO, Philippines — Soldiers found improvised bombs and an Islamic State flag in Datu Anggal, Maguindanao on Sunday just before a bombing attempt in another municipality five kilometers away.
Maj. Gen. Arnel Dela Vega of the 6th Infantry Division told The STAR via mobile phone Monday that it residents provided authorities information that led patrolling soldiers to the location of the explosives and the flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
Local officials, in a report to Dela Vega’s office, said the improvised explosive devices and ISIS flag scattered at the boundary of Barangays Kuden and Brar in Datu Anggal were abandoned by fleeing members of the ISIS-inspired Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
Dela Vega said besides the explosives and ISIS flag, soldiers also found methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) and drug paraphernalia along the escape routes of the BIFF bandits.
BIFF gunmen and pursuing personnel of different Army units and commandos from the 6th ID’s elite 64th Division Reconnaissance Company repeatedly clashed with BIFF bandits in Guindulungan town in Maguindanao several days before.
The BIFF, known for its use of IEDs on non-military targets to avenge losses in encounters with government forces, is not covered by the ceasefire accord between Malacañang and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
A roadside bomb was found along a stretch of a highway that passes through the town proper of Guindulungan just few hours after the deactivation by Army ordnance experts of the IEDs found in Datu Anggal.
The explosive, rigged with a blasting mechanism that can be detonated from a distance, was immediately defused by a responding bomb disposal team.
Guindulungan was rocked by an IED explosion two weeks ago. No one was hurt in the blast but the incident caused panic among residents.