A new break-away group of terrorists are emerging in Mindanao, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has said.
The AFP said that at least 70 members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, otherwise known as the BIFF, have splintered off of the BIFF and created a group known as Justice Islamic Movement or JIM – it appears the group cut their ties with the BIFF in November of 2013 but has recently gained ground in the Philippines most southerly island.
The new Asian terror group is part of a bandit group formed after the men joined the Asian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah. The new JIM group is being led by Mohammad Tambako who was tagged by the military as the coddler of Abdul Basit Usman, the infamous Filipino bomb-maker of Mindanao.
The Armed Forces have also said that four other foreign terrorists are in the company of Tambako and his JIM group. “Reports we have received revealed that the BIFF does not see eye to eye with the group of Tambako,” Padilla said in a news conference on Wednesday.
When Padilla was asked by the press about the location of JIM and where the terrorist group is holding out – he simply noted that the group is operating in the same area as the BIFF. “That’s how they are in Mindanao, if they have misunderstandings, they part ways,” Padilla said.
Information about Tambako shows that he once joined the MILF and later crossed over to BIFF and now has created his own group the JIM.
Col. Melquiades Feliciano, commander of the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade, earlier said Usman is being coddled by notorious bandits from two different BIFF groups that included Tambako, a BIFF leader who had carried out armed atrocities against civilians in Maguindanao and North Cotabato.