This is an update article for the previous: In the Philippines Christians take up arms against terrorists
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) – a former rebel group of the Philippines – decided to create a task force to address the real threats of radical organizations close to the Caliphate operating in the region.
This was announced by Mohager Iqbal, spokesman for the MILF, to the Philippine’s “Daily Inquirer”. The newspaper says that the group’s concerns have increased following the release of some propaganda videos where local Islamist organizations claime ties with ISIS. The goal of the videos published on the internet would be to recruit fighters for the Caliphate and to plan new terrorist acts in the Philippines. For this, the head of the MILF said that his group is able to collect “12,000 armed men”, as well as various Islamic preachers to counter the distortions that the terrorists of the Islamic State make of the Koran.
The MILF, after decades of struggle for independence, has signed a peace deal with the government in Manila last January 2014, which foresees the creation of a Muslim autonomous region in the southern part of Mindanao by the end of 2016. Negotiations however are currently idle because of the violence of numerous other organizations in the area. Most probably the move of the group is strategic. Analysts, in fact, argue that the MILF is trying to prevent the sabotage attempts of the negotiations with the Philippine government.
Padilla, army spokesman in Manila, described the initiative of the MILF as a “welcome development.” Adding that “the government is well aware of the growing threat of Islamic terrorism” and therefore “is conducting security operations across the country.”
One of the most active organizations is the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), formed in 2012 from MILF due to the beginning of peace talks with the government. This group is also responsible for the recent attacks against the Christian community occurred last Christmas and that caused the deaths of fourteen people.