COTABATO, Philippines – The death toll in the fighting along the boundaries of Maguindanao del Sur and Cotabato provinces has risen to 20 after the terrorist group Dawlah Islamiyah launched attacks against Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) forces.

From December 7 to 9, government forces killed at least nine members of Dawlah Islamiyah in air and ground offensives carried out by the military, according to Captain Alex Duma, spokesman of the Army’s 602nd Brigade.

Duma said at least 10 Dawlah Islamiyah members were wounded in the military offensives.

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An MILF commander and a baby were killed by Dawlah Islamiyah militants on December 7, according to Abdulmalik Kalimpo, alias Commander Robertson of the MILF’s 129th Base Operations Command.

Kalimpo and Bangsamoro parliament member Akmad “Jack” Abas, head of the MILF’s Eastern Mindanao Command, said the Dawlah Islamiyah Group attacked the MILF on December 8 and killed nine members of the Front’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) in Barangay Dalgan, Pagalungan, Maguindanao del Sur.

Abas said Dawlah Islamiyah has blamed the MILF for the military offensives against the Islamic State-inspired group.

The military launched air and ground attacks against Dawlah Islamiyah in Maguindanao del Sur two days before the bombing that killed four people and injured several dozen others at the Ali Dimaporo Gym of the state-run Mindanao State University (MSU).

Government forces launched fresh offensives near the Ligawasan Marsh last week, days after the Marawi bomb attack that was blamed on the Dawlah Islamiyah-Maute Group, as an apparent response to the attack inside the MSU campus.

Abas said the military offensives against Dawlah Islamiyah started after confirming that it was recruiting people in Sitio Wata in Pagalungan town.

He said MILF members got in their way, sparking tension in the town.

“They killed the battalion commander of our 108th Base Command, whom they accused of being a government asset. They also killed a six-month-old baby girl and torched houses in the area,” said Kalimpo.

The MILF said government forces then launched more offensives just as the MILF-BIAF responded to Dawlah Islamiyah attacks.

Captain Duma said the Dawlah Islamiyah attack on an MILF camp was to avenge the terrorist group’s loss during the first wave of government offensives. – Rappler.com