Operation Darkhorse

Last updated

Operation Darkhorse
Part of the Moro conflict
DateJanuary 27 – February 2, 2014
(6 days)
Location
Result

Philippine government victory

  • Temporary stops in BIFF and government offensives.
Belligerents

Flag of the Philippines.svg Philippines

Flag of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.svg Moro Islamic Liberation Front (support) [1]
Flag of Jihad.svg Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters
Commanders and leaders
Flag of the Philippines.svg Benigno Aquino III
Flag of the Philippines.svg Emmanuel Bautista
Flag of the Philippines.svg Edmund Pangilinan
Flag of the Philippines.svg Edgar Gonzales
Flag of Jihad.svg Ameril Umbra Kato
Flag of Jihad.svg Ustadz Karialan
Flag of Jihad.svg Abu Misry Mama
Units involved
Unknown
Casualties and losses
1 killed
20 wounded [2]
52 killed [3]
49 injured [3]
101 captured [2]
Civilians injured: 8 [2]
Operation Darkhorse
Oplan Darkhorse
Part of the South Philippines insurgency
Location
Target Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters
Executed by Armed Forces of the Philippines
Philippine National Police
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (support)

Operation Darkhorse (Filipino: Oplan Darkhorse) was an offensive against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) launched by the Armed Forces of the Philippines on January 27, 2014. [2]

Contents

Background

The fighting broke just as the normalization annex of the Bangsamoro Framework Agreement was signed between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, claimed that the offensive was not related to the signing of the annex of the peace treaty and said that the government has been collaborating with the MILF to launch an offensive against the BIFF even before the signing of the annex. The government offensive was part of an effort to arrest various BIFF leaders including its leader, Umbra Kato for various crimes. The Philippine National Police has issued a warrant of arrest for various BIFF leaders. Hermoso described the offensive as a "law enforcement" effort by government forces. [1]

The offensive is part of Joint Ad Hoc Joint Action Group, a joint effort by the Philippine government and the MILF to eliminate lawless elements from MILF communities. [4]

The offensive

January 28

Philippine military launched an artillery attack on BIFF targets with 105-mm howitzers. The military also conducted airstrikes. At least 20 BIFF members were killed according to the government. BIFF spokesperson, Abu Misry Mama denied that there were casualties on their side. [5]

January 29

BIFF spokesman, Abu Misry Mama said that the BIFF is open for negotiations with the government. He said that the BIFF is disappointed with the treatment of the government of their group. He said that the government keeps sending heavily-armed forces to their communities on which he said forces the BIFF to retaliate. The BIFF wants a "straight to the point" and "direct" peace negotiation compared to the negotiations between the Philippine Government and the MILF, according to the spokesman. Mama added that the BIFF longs for an independent state where everyone is equal. Col Dickson Hermoso, spokesman of the 6th Infantry Division, turned down the BIFF's request for negotiations and said that the BIFF must first face criminal charges against them.

January 31

Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala, Armed Forces public affairs office chief said that government forces has seized at least five strategic BIFF camps. He identified the following locations; the headquarters in Barangay Dasawao, Shariff Saydona Mustapha, a training facility in Barangay Ganta, Shariff Saydona Mustapha, an improvised explosive device factory in Barangay Ganta, Shariff Saydona Mustapha and advance posts in Barangay Bakat, Shariff Saydona Mustapha and Barangay Damablas in Datu Piang. The casualties according to government forces includes 53 BIFF fighters, including 3 child soldiers and one soldier from the Philippine government side. The BIFF continues to deny that there were casualties on their side. [6]

February 1

The government planned to end the offensive on February 1, the second deadline set by the Joint Ad Hoc Joint Action Group. BIFF spokesman Abu Misry Mama said that they captured and torched an armored personnel carrier (APC). The spokesman said that they can't utilize the vehicle due to the lack of roads in their area so they decided to torch the vehicle after removing the 50-caliber machine gun attached to the vehicle

Government forces captured the main stronghold of the BIFF in Barangay Ganta, Shariff Saydona Mustapha. The flag of the Philippines was raised at the former BIFF camp. [2]

February 2

The Armed Forces of the Philippines formally ended Operation Darkhorse. Col. Dickson Hermoso, 6th Infantry Division spokesman, claimed that the government forces has significantly lowered the morale of BIFF fighters following the capture of at least four strategic BIFF camps. The military declared that civilians displaced due to the operation may now return to their homes. [2] The military added that their law enforcement operations will continue despite the formal conclusion of Operation Darkhorse. [7]

There is no official confirmation that Ameril Umbra Kato, leader of the BIFF was killed or captured during the military operation. [7]

Humanitarian concerns

9,465 families or 35,334 people were displaced due to the clashes, with most of them coming from Shariff Saydona Mustapha, Rajah Buayan, Datu Piang in Maguindanao and Pikit in North Cotabato. Some areas where the displaced persons may need to be rehabilitated. The military has vowed "speedy reconstruction" of affected areas after the conclusion of the military offensive. [3] [8]

It was also reported that three child soldiers of the BIFF were killed during the operations. The Philippine government condemned the reported use of child soldiers by the BIFF as a violation of human rights. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moro Islamic Liberation Front</span> Group in Mindanao, Philippines, seeking Moro autonomy

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front is a group based in Mindanao seeking an autonomous region of the Moro people from the central government. The group has a presence in the Bangsamoro region of Mindanao, the Sulu Archipelago, Palawan, Basilan, and other neighbouring islands. The armed wing of the group was the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), although the name of its parent organization, the MILF, was often used to refer to the BIAF. In July, 2018, the Philippine government passed the Bangsamoro Organic Law, giving more autonomy to Muslims. In return, MILF announced that it would disarm its 30,000 fighters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Datu Piang, Maguindanao del Sur</span> Municipality in Maguindanao del Sur, Philippines

Datu Piang, officially the Municipality of Datu Piang, is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Maguindanao del Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 28,380 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shariff Aguak</span> Municipality in Maguindanao del Sur, Philippines

Shariff Aguak, officially the Municipality of Shariff Aguak, is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Maguindanao del Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 33,982 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mamasapano</span> Municipality in Maguindanao del Sur, Philippines

Mamasapano, officially the Municipality of Mamasapano, is a 5th class municipality in the province of Maguindanao del Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 27,807 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Datu Saudi Ampatuan</span> Municipality in Maguindanao del Sur, Philippines

Datu Saudi Ampatuan, officially the Municipality of Datu Saudi Ampatuan, is a 4th class municipality in the province of Maguindanao del Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 31,060 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moro conflict</span> Separatist conflict in the Philippines

The Moro conflict was an insurgency in the Mindanao region of the Philippines, which involved multiple armed groups. Peace deals have been signed between the Philippine government and two major armed groups, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), but other smaller armed groups continue to exist. In 2017, the peace council settled around 138 clan conflicts.

The legislative districts of Maguindanao were the representations of the province of Maguindanao and the independent component city of Cotabato in the various national legislatures of the Philippines. The province and the city were represented in the lower house of the Congress of the Philippines through their first and second congressional districts from 1987–2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shariff Saydona Mustapha</span> Municipality in Maguindanao del Sur, Philippines

Shariff Saydona Mustapha, officially the Municipality of Shariff Saydona Mustapha, is a municipality in the province of Maguindanao del Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 25,080 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ameril Umbra Kato</span> Philippine Moro terrorist (1946–2015)

Ameril Umbra Kato was the founder of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), a group which seceded from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). He joined the MILF in or around 1985, after he graduated from the esteemed Wahhabism School Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Umbra Kato was the Philippines' most wanted man, though due to his membership in MILF he was not hunted by the military. A warrant of arrest was filed against him alongside other BIFF members by the Philippine National Police. The Armed Forces of the Philippines, with the MILF, launched Operation Darkhorse in a bid to arrest him in January 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters</span> Islamist militant group based in the Philippines

The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), also known as the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement, is an Islamist militant organization based in Mindanao, the Philippines. It follows the Wahhabi ideology that is currently being spread by Wahhabi preachers in the country. It is a smaller player in the overall Moro insurgency in the Philippines and is mostly active in Maguindanao and other places in central Mindanao. It is a breakaway group from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front founded by Ameril Umbra Kato. Following Kato's death, the group split into three factions, one of which has aligned with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), while the other two are less radical.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mamasapano clash</span> 2015 shootout between Philippine police and Islamist militants in Maguindanao

The Mamasapano clash was a shootout that took place during a police operation by the Special Action Force (SAF) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) on January 25, 2015, in Tukanalipao, Mamasapano, then-undivided Maguindanao. The operation, codenamed Oplan Exodus, was intended to capture or kill wanted Malaysian terrorist and bomb-maker Zulkifli Abdhir and other Malaysian terrorists or high-ranking members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2000 Philippine campaign against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front</span>

The 2000 Philippine campaign against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front was a military campaign conducted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) against a Muslim secessionist group that took place during the presidency of Joseph Estrada in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in the Philippines. The campaign was waged "to weaken the Moro Islamic Liberation Front's capability to undermine the territorial integrity of the Philippines and inflict harm on both government personnel and civilians".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Valiancy</span>

Operation Valiancy was the initial military operation of the 2000 Philippine campaign against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front which took place in Maguindanao, Philippines. The Philippine Army, primarily units of its 6th Infantry Division, assaulted Moro Islamic Liberation Front forces in the Talayan-Shariff Aguak-Datu Piang area of Maguindanao and captured Camp Omar ibn al-Khattab, its third largest camp located there. Camp Omar, named after Umar, a senior Sahabi of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, served as the headquarters of the 206th BIAF brigade under Ameril Umbra Kato and was defended by 500 guerillas. Camp Jabal Uhob, another MILF camp in the area, was also captured. Planned to be a week-long operation, Valiancy took only two days to realize its objectives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of the Buliok Complex</span>

The Battle of the Buliok Complex took place on 11 February 2003 in an area within the provinces of Maguindanao and Cotabato in Mindanao, Philippines. The 60-hectare complex, which stretches from Pikit, Cotabato to Pagalungan, Maguindanao, was a stronghold of the Muslim separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Accused by the Philippine government of harboring members of Pentagon, a notorious kidnap-for-ransom gang operating in Mindanao, the MILF was attacked in the Buliok complex by the Armed Forces of the Philippines under orders from then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Marawi</span> 2017 conflict between the Philippine government and the Maute Group

The siege of Marawi, also known as the Marawi crisis and the Battle of Marawi, was a five-month-long armed conflict in Marawi, Philippines, that started on May 23, 2017, between Philippine government security forces against militants affiliated with the Islamic State (IS), including the Maute and Abu Sayyaf Salafi jihadist groups. The battle also became the longest urban battle in the modern history of the Philippines.

This is a chronology of the Moro conflict, an ongoing armed conflict in the southern Philippines between jihadist groups such as the Abu Sayyaf Group, the Maute Group, Jemaah Islamiyah, and Islamic State affiliates, mainstream separatist groups such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), and the Philippine Government since 1971. Much of the fighting has been concentrated on the island of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago, with spillover incidents and attacks occurring in the Philippine capital Manila and neighboring countries such as Malaysia.

Dickson Peñas Hermoso is a Filipino government official and former military official who serves as the head of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications of Bangsamoro. He was also known for being part of the Philippine Army's 6th Infantry Division which was involved in the Moro conflict.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Maguindanao division plebiscite</span>

The Maguindanao division plebiscite was held in the province of Maguindanao, Philippines, on September 17, 2022, more than four months after the May 9 national and local elections, after having been postponed from its planned plebiscite in or before August 2021. As required by Republic Act No. 11550, it was conducted to seek the consent of the residents of Maguindanao on the proposal to divide the province into two separate provinces that will henceforth be named Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur.

On May 8, 2021, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters insurgents occupied the public market of the municipality of Datu Paglas in Maguindanao, Philippines, forcing many residents to evacuate.

On November 8, 2022, the Philippine Army and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) engaged in a gunfight in Ungkaya Pukan, Basilan, while the army was conducting clearing operations on "lawless elements" allegedly taking refuge in the territory controlled by the MILF. Fighting between the two sides continued until November 10, 2022 when a ceasefire between two sides were signed.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "AFP raids BIFF lairs" . Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 AFP ends offensive with fall of BIFF main lair | Manila Bulletin | Latest Breaking News | News Philippines
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Military declares end of offensive vs BIFF" . Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  4. Dizon, Nikko. "AFP operations vs BIFF in Maguindanao extended until Saturday" . Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  5. "Military continues ops vs. BIFF in Maguindanao" . Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  6. "Child soldiers among 53 dead in Maguindanao clashes — military" . Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  7. 1 2 "AFP focusing on neutralizing BIFF’s IED-making capability | News | GMA News Online". www.gmanetwork.com.
  8. "Philippine military lauds success against Muslim rebels - World News - SINA English" . Retrieved 5 September 2016.