14 IEDs found in Dawlah Islamiya enclaves
BANGSAMORO NEWS UPDATES • 06:30 AM Tue Dec 3, 2019
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By:
John M. Unson
The recovered arms cache and IEDs are now in the custody of 6th ID. (Photos from 6th ID Public Affairs Office)
MAGUINDANAO --- The military recovered a total of 14 improvised explosive devices in abandoned enclaves of the Dawlah Islamiya terror group after a spate of clashes with the group last week.
The recovered IEDs were laid around the lairs of the Dawlah Islamiya, also known as the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, in Shariff Saidona Mustapha town in Maguindanao that members of the anti-terror Joint Task Force Central, or JTFC, cleared from occupation by terrorists last week.
Some of the IEDs were connected to booby traps planted by Dawlah Islamiya gunmen along farm trails before they scampered to the Liguasan Delta following skirmishes with soldiers advancing towards them.
The offensive of the JTFC, comprised of units under the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, was launched to preempt plots of the Dawlah Islamiya, also known as the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, to bomb non-military targets in Central Mindanao to avenge the deaths of members killed in encounters with military forces the week before.
The JTFC operation was also meant to restore government control over secluded areas in Shariff Saidona Mustapha where the terror group has makeshift IED-production facilities.