Policemen arrive in Sultan Kudarat town to reinforce cops who came under fire from gunmen. (Mindanao Examiner Photo/Mark Navales)
COTABATO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 13 Feb) – Police forces clashed with unidentified gunmen near strongholds of Muslim separatist rebels in the southern Philippine town of Sultan Kudarat near Cotabato City, officials said Tuesday.
The fighting late Monday was triggered by a grenade attack on the house of a decorated Cotabato City police commander, Senior Inspector Samson Obatay, in Salimbao village.
Gunmen, armed with automatic weapons, also attacked police reinforcement with small rockets, sparking a brief, but heavy exchange of fire.
There were no reports of injuries or casualties either of the grenade attack or clashes between police forces and gunmen, a local police desk officer Dato Gani said.
“They attacked the house of Senior Inspector Samson Obatay and police reinforcement. The police engaged the attackers until the gunmen fled. There were no police or civilian casualties. We still don’t know if there were enemy casualties,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.
Obatay is commander of an elite police unit responsible in the killings of many criminals and capture of suspected terrorists in Cotabato.
No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, but suspicion fell heavily on Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels.
The MILF denied it had a hand on the attack and said it could be family feud. “We have no involvement in the attack, but it could be family feud. Obatay, being a police officer, has a lot of enemies and he knows that,” a rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu told the Mindanao Examiner.
The MILF, the Philippines’ largest Muslim rebel group, is currently negotiating peace with the Arroyo government. It signed a truce in 2001, but despite the cease-fire agreement, sporadic clashes still continue between rebels and soldiers with both sides accusing each other of violating the fragile accord. (With a report from Mark Navales)
The fighting late Monday was triggered by a grenade attack on the house of a decorated Cotabato City police commander, Senior Inspector Samson Obatay, in Salimbao village.
Gunmen, armed with automatic weapons, also attacked police reinforcement with small rockets, sparking a brief, but heavy exchange of fire.
There were no reports of injuries or casualties either of the grenade attack or clashes between police forces and gunmen, a local police desk officer Dato Gani said.
“They attacked the house of Senior Inspector Samson Obatay and police reinforcement. The police engaged the attackers until the gunmen fled. There were no police or civilian casualties. We still don’t know if there were enemy casualties,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.
Obatay is commander of an elite police unit responsible in the killings of many criminals and capture of suspected terrorists in Cotabato.
No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, but suspicion fell heavily on Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels.
The MILF denied it had a hand on the attack and said it could be family feud. “We have no involvement in the attack, but it could be family feud. Obatay, being a police officer, has a lot of enemies and he knows that,” a rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu told the Mindanao Examiner.
The MILF, the Philippines’ largest Muslim rebel group, is currently negotiating peace with the Arroyo government. It signed a truce in 2001, but despite the cease-fire agreement, sporadic clashes still continue between rebels and soldiers with both sides accusing each other of violating the fragile accord. (With a report from Mark Navales)
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