Contrary to allegations now circulating on social media, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) clarified Thursday, March 3, that the target of the recent combat operations in Maguing, Lanao del Sur were members of the Dawlah Islamiyah (DI) and Maute Group (MG), not the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Col. Ramon Zagala, AFP spokesperson, reiterated that the military forces in Mindanao were running after DI commander Hadji Satar alias Abu Zacariah.

“Ang kalaban natin doon ay ang mga teroristang Daulah Islamiyah headed by Abu Zacariah (Our enemies there are Dawlah Islamiyah terrorists headed by Abu Zacariah),” Zagala said in a radio interview with dzBB.

So far, Zagala said at least seven suspected terrorists were already killed in the combat operations. Meanwhile, on the side of the government, a soldier was killed in action while four others were wounded.

Bangsamoro Interim Chief Minister Ahod “Murad” Ebrahim, who is also the chairman of MILF, had called on the military to stop their airstrikes and artillery attacks in Barangay Ilalag since March 1. He claimed that the area was not a terrorist’s lair but part of MILF’s territory.

Presidential candidate Faisal Mangondato also made the same appeal as he urged the government to suspend the military operations in the 103rd camp of the MILF.

He warned that if the operations continue, it will be tantamount to a “breach of agreement” between the Philippine government and the MILF, the largest Muslim rebel group in the country.

In 2014, Ebrahim and the Philippine government under the presidency of the late Benigno Aquino III signed the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro. It is a peace agreement which paved the way for the creation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in 2019.

There also exists an agreement relating to the general cessation of hostilities between the two parties.

But Zagala revealed that it was members of the MILF themselves who gave intelligence information on the location of the DI-MG terrorists, signifying the cooperation between the military and the Moro group.

“Ang nagbigay ng info sa atin ay mga miyembro ng MILF kaya natin natunton itong kampo na ito (It was the members of the MILF who gave us the information that’s why we were able to locate this camp) so there is just probably a little bit of misunderstanding,” Zagala said.

He said the AFP leadership will coordinate with Ebrahim to explain what happened during the combat operations, and assure him that “MILF was never a target” of the military.

“They are our partners in peace,” Zagala noted.