COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 8, 2008) – Seven people were killed Monday, including five children, after government planes blasted a small civilian boat in Maguindanao province in the southern Philippines, where fighting erupted between Moro rebels and military forces, officials said.
The Philippine military insisted those killed in the air strikes were rebels, but Mosib Tan, the municipal administrator of Datu Piang, said the victims were all innocent civilians.
“The hit the wooden boat and five children and their father were killed. Their mother’s body is still missing. Another victim who survived the air strike is now in the hospital – they are all innocent civilians,” Tan told the Mindanao Examiner.
Tan said villagers reported the planes bombed the boat at the Pawas River in the village of Te.
He identified those who were killed as Daya Manunggal Mandi and his children Aida, 17; Faiza, 1; Bai Lyn, 10; King, 8; and Dayang, 6 and their mother Vilma, whose body has not been found. He said Jamaludil, 17, was wounded in the air strike.
The air strike coincided with the Ramadan, Islam’s holiest month.
There were no immediate statement from provincial or regional government officials, but Tan condemned the military attack, saying, it has displaced more than 700 families from the village. “Our refugee shelters are packed. How can we feed all these poor people who fled their homes,” he said.
Security officials said the fighting broke out after Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels fired on the chopper near the village.
“The MILF rebels attacked our chopper and this triggered the fighting,” Army Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, a spokesman for the 6th Infantry Division, said.
He did not say whether anyone was wounded in the attack on the helicopter or if the aircraft sustained any damage. “We are still awaiting reports about it, but the attack sparked fresh fighting between rebels and our troops,” he said.
The helicopter, Ando said, was transporting troops when it was fired upon by rebels.
Security forces have been pursuing two MILF commanders, Ameril Kato and Abdurahman Macapaar, who were blamed for the series of deadly attacks on civilian villages in Mindanao.
Peace talks between Manila and the MILF were stalled because of the attacks that left dozens of people dead and forced more than 200,000 to flee their homes. The MILF, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group, said it would not surrender Kato and Macapaar despite the government repeated demands.
The rebels threatened to launch a jihad should the government abandons the seven-year old peace talks.
President Gloria Arroyo has already scrapped the Muslim territorial deal that peace negotiators initially signed in July and disbanded the government team talking peace with the MILF because of the rebel attacks.
Arroyo insisted the rebels to lay down their arms before peace talks could resume, but the MILF flatly rejected this, saying, it should settle first the issue on the ancestral domain deal.
The rebels said it would not return to the negotiating table unless Manila honors it commitment to the accord that would grant about four million Muslims their own homeland in more than 700 villages across the troubled, but mineral-rich region on Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)
The Philippine military insisted those killed in the air strikes were rebels, but Mosib Tan, the municipal administrator of Datu Piang, said the victims were all innocent civilians.
“The hit the wooden boat and five children and their father were killed. Their mother’s body is still missing. Another victim who survived the air strike is now in the hospital – they are all innocent civilians,” Tan told the Mindanao Examiner.
Tan said villagers reported the planes bombed the boat at the Pawas River in the village of Te.
He identified those who were killed as Daya Manunggal Mandi and his children Aida, 17; Faiza, 1; Bai Lyn, 10; King, 8; and Dayang, 6 and their mother Vilma, whose body has not been found. He said Jamaludil, 17, was wounded in the air strike.
The air strike coincided with the Ramadan, Islam’s holiest month.
There were no immediate statement from provincial or regional government officials, but Tan condemned the military attack, saying, it has displaced more than 700 families from the village. “Our refugee shelters are packed. How can we feed all these poor people who fled their homes,” he said.
Security officials said the fighting broke out after Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels fired on the chopper near the village.
“The MILF rebels attacked our chopper and this triggered the fighting,” Army Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, a spokesman for the 6th Infantry Division, said.
He did not say whether anyone was wounded in the attack on the helicopter or if the aircraft sustained any damage. “We are still awaiting reports about it, but the attack sparked fresh fighting between rebels and our troops,” he said.
The helicopter, Ando said, was transporting troops when it was fired upon by rebels.
Security forces have been pursuing two MILF commanders, Ameril Kato and Abdurahman Macapaar, who were blamed for the series of deadly attacks on civilian villages in Mindanao.
Peace talks between Manila and the MILF were stalled because of the attacks that left dozens of people dead and forced more than 200,000 to flee their homes. The MILF, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group, said it would not surrender Kato and Macapaar despite the government repeated demands.
The rebels threatened to launch a jihad should the government abandons the seven-year old peace talks.
President Gloria Arroyo has already scrapped the Muslim territorial deal that peace negotiators initially signed in July and disbanded the government team talking peace with the MILF because of the rebel attacks.
Arroyo insisted the rebels to lay down their arms before peace talks could resume, but the MILF flatly rejected this, saying, it should settle first the issue on the ancestral domain deal.
The rebels said it would not return to the negotiating table unless Manila honors it commitment to the accord that would grant about four million Muslims their own homeland in more than 700 villages across the troubled, but mineral-rich region on Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)
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