Wanted top BIFF leader killed in Maguindanao del Norte shootout

COTABATO CITY — The top leader of a faction in the now-defunct Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), with a P3 million reward on his head, was killed in a clash with soldiers and policemen in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte before dawn on Sunday.

Major Gen. Jose Vladimir R. Cagara, commander of the Army’s 6^th Infantry Division (ID), and Brig. Gen. Edgar L. Catu of the 601^st Infantry Brigade, separately told reporters on Sunday morning that the operation that resulted in the death of Esmael Tingan Abubakar was premised on reports by residents of Maguindanao del Sur about his recent relocation to Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte after more than a hundred of his followers pledged allegiance to the government since January.

Mr. Abubakar and his followers originally operated in the adjoining Shariff Aguak, Shariff Saidona Mustapha, Datu Saudi Ampatuan and Datu Salibo and Mamasapano towns in Maguindanao del Sur.

Soldiers from the 6^th ID and the 601^st Infantry Brigade, operatives from the Maguindanao del Sur Provincial Police Office, and the intelligence unit of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region were serving Mr. Abubakar five separate warrants of arrest at his hideout in Sitio Tambak in Barangay Calsada when he pulled out a gun and opened fire, provoking a gunfight that resulted in his death.

The warrants for his arrest were issued by the Regional Trial Court branches 14 and 15 in Cotabato City, where he is wanted for high-profile cases, including multiple murder, multiple frustrated murder and destructive arson.

Local executives in Maguindanao del Sur told reporters that a group of Moro traders had also separately filed extortion cases against Mr. Abubakar, widely known for his coddling of large-scale shabu (crystal meth) and marijuana traffickers in exchange for money.

Mr. Abubakar was declared dead on arrival by physicians at the Cotabato Sanitarium General Hospital in Barangay Pinaring in Sultan Kudarat. — John Felix M. Unson