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Daesh-aligned rebels kill nine civilians in south Philippines

Saturday, 26 December 2015 9:43 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 26 December 2015 9:42 AM ]

Members of the BIFF rebel group stand guard at Maguindanao Province in southern Philippines. (File photo by AP)

Police in the Philippines say militants aligned with the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group have killed nine civilians in a series of attacks in the south of the country.

Members of the BIFF, a breakaway faction of the MILF rebel group, shot seven farmers at close range while the latter were working in their rice paddies in the province of Sultan Kudarat on Saturday.

Two more civilians also lost their lives in a grenade attack on a chapel in the nearby province of North Cotabato on the same day, the Philippine government’s chief negotiator in the peace talks with the MILF Miriam Ferrer said.

The militants had taken civilians hostage in the Sultan Kudarat assault and used them as human shields in a confrontation with army forces, but the hostages were released later, the official further said. Government troops killed four BIFF militants, she added.

Meanwhile, police officials said those behind the Christmas Eve attacks had pledged allegiance to Daesh in videos posted to the video-sharing website YouTube.

The BIFF, a militant group fighting for an independent homeland in the southern Philippines, broke away from the MILF rebels in 2011.

In March 2014, the Philippines signed a peace deal with the MILF rebel group, ending 45 years of conflict that killed over 120,000 people in the country’s south and displaced 2 million others.

Under the peace accord, the rebels agreed to disband guerrilla forces and surrender weapons while the Manila government agreed to give them self-rule with wider powers to control their economy and culture.

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