MAGUINDANAO -- The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) believes that a new threat group called the Khilafah Islamiyah exists.
MILF First Vice Chairman Ghazali Jaafar on Thursday said this is a new group created by some Bangsamoro leaders who were dissatisfied with the peace efforts in Mindanao.
The group is believed to have been formed just recently, and has contacts abroad.
Jaafar said that based on the information they have gathered from the ground, Khilafah Islamiyah is a group from the Lanao region.
"Naka-base sila sa Lanao del Sur at Lanao del Norte and their leaders are our brother Maranaos," he said.
The official admitted, however, they only have little information on the existence of the said group. This is why the MILF is also digging on how the group really came into existence.
"Tinitingan namin ng maiigi ang kanilang organization para updated ang leadership sa mga ganyan," Jaafar said.
Meanwhile, Jaafar could not say if this can really be considered as a threat as what authorities see them to be after reports came out that the group knows how to make bombs.
He said this depends on the group's leadership on how decided and serious they are on their objective.
"Kahit isang squad lang yan na may armas, basta ang tao ay desidido," he said.
As to the possibility of terrorist activity that could be perpetrated by such group, Jaafar urged the public not to speculate and just wait for the result of the authorities' investigation on the spate of bombings in Mindanao.
When officials from Malacañang visited the 6th Infantry Division in Maguindanao on Tuesday to meet local officials in the area and discuss the security situation in central Mindanao, one of the things presented was the Khilafah Islamiyah.
6th ID Commander Major General Romeo Gapuz said in a press conference that the Anti-terrorism Council studied how this group operates and what its strategies are.
They have already tapped all intelligence units to know whether this group really exists.