Camp Abubakar had been named after Abu Bakr, a Sahabi and the father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

Camp Abubakar was established in the 1980s by Salamat Hashim, after he and his comrades Murad Ebrahim and Mohagher Iqbal, broke away from the Moro National Liberation Front and Nur Misuari.

[1] Camp Abubakar covered approximately forty square miles and included a mosque, a madrasah, commercial and residential areas, a weapons factory, a solar energy system, and segments of seven different villages,[4] including portions of the towns of Matanog, Barira, Buldon and Parang in Maguindanao province.

[5] Salamat Hashim, then-Chairman of the MILF, resided in a bungalow inside the camp itself, while Murad Ebrahim, then-MILF military chief had his office in the town of Matanog.

[3] The camp served as the brigade's headquarters until June 2015, when the unit relocated to Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao.