COTABATO CITY — The military foiled an attempt by the few remaining members of the Dawlah Islamiya to bomb selected targets in Central Mindanao to create an impression that the surrender of hundreds of its members since 2022 has not diminished its capability to perpetrate acts of terror.
Army Major Gen, Antonio Nafarrete, commander of the 6th Infantry Division, told reporters on Friday, September 13 that personnel of units under the 1st Brigade Combat Team found last Wednesday home-made bombs inside a hut in Barangay Tee in Datu Salibo town that they searched after villagers reported seeing two members of the Dawlah Islamiya inside, fabricating something.
Villagers confirmed that the duo immediately ran away when they noticed soldiers and Moro community leaders approaching their location from two directions, leaving their mprovised explosive devices (IEDs) behind.
Local executives and barangay leaders have confirmed to the police and to officials of Army units in Datu Salibo ang nearby towns that the two men, whom they identified as Samir and Bukhari, were Dawlah Islamiya members who are experts in assembling IEDs using ammonium nitrate as blasting charges, or incendiary powders scraped from inside unexploded cannon and mortar shells collected in areas where soldiers and local terrorists figured in gunfights.
Senior members of the Islamic religious community in Maguindanao del Sur had earlier warned Nafarrete and his subordinate brigade and battalion commanders in the province about a plot by remaining members of the Dawlah Islamiya to set off bombs along highways, a ploy to counter mounting public perception that the group has been dramatically weakened by the surrender in batches of 316 members in the past 37 months.
The former Dawlah Islamiya members who had surrendered through the intercession of local government units and the 6th ID had all been reintegrated into mainstream society.