Philippine security forces in Mindanao on June 21, 2017 (Photo: EPA/VNA) |
The pre-dawn assaults on Liguasan marsh destroyed a bomb-making "factory" of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), a splinter group of the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). More than 100 BIFF fighters were in the targeted area during the military operation. BIFF split with the Islamic Liberation Front in 2010 to fight for a separatist Islamic state for Filipino Muslim minority in the Mindanao region. BIFF has up to 400 members, who are said to be loyal to the Islamic State.