Philippine troops capture terror leader

COTABATO CITY – Security forces raided a hideout of the terrorist group BIFF in southern Philippines and captured its deputy leader, officials announced on Tuesday.

Officials said policemen, backed by soldiers, stormed the hideout late Monday in Cotabato City and captured Abdulgani Pagao. The terror leader was unable to fight back to fight back after being subdued by the raiders.

Security forces also recovered a .45-automatic caliber pistol and a hand grenade from Pagao.

Officials did not say how security forces managed to tracked down Pagao, but his arrest was not made public immediately because of the on-going operation aimed at weakening the BIFF capability to launch terror attacks.

Pagao was handed over to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and is being interrogated while police are preparing criminal charges against him.

“This (arrest) is part of our (military and police) continuing efforts against terrorism and lawlessness and the capture of Pagao will definitely reduce the capability of the BIFF to sow terror.This is a significant accomplishment of the AFP and PNP intensified law enforcement operations in Maguindanao,” Capt. Maria Rowena Muyuela, a spokeswoman for the Western Mindanao Command, told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.

The military said the operation against the BIFF is continuing, but not as intense as it was a month ago when security forces launched an all-out war that killed over 100 gunmen in different towns in Maguindanao, one of five provinces under the troubled Muslim autonomous region in southern Philippines.

The BIFF, founded by Ameril Umra Kato, broke away with the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front after accusing its leader Murad Ebrahim of abandoning its pursuit of Muslim independence in Mindanao. The MILF has signed a peace deal with the Aquino government last year. (Mark Navales)

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