8 Philippine Troops Wounded In MILF Clash

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 12, 2008) – At least eight government soldiers were wounded in fierce clashes Sunday with Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Officials said rebel and military forces clashed in the village called Tukanalipao in Maguindanao’s Mamasapano town. One MILF rebel was also killed in the fighting that erupted at around 10 a.m., said Major Armand Rico, a regional army spokesman.

He said among those wounded was an army lieutenant, Edever Pulido, a member of the 75th Infantry Battalion. “Eight of our soldiers were wounded in the fighting,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.

He said MILF leaders Abdul Basit Usman and Bonnie Ayunan led the attacks against the army forces. The fighting, he said, lasted more than 15 minutes.
“The rebels used explosive to set a booby trap. There is an operation going on against those behind the attacks” he said.

Last month, Usman’s group also raided a village in Mamasapano town, torching several small government buildings and civilian houses.

Authorities said Usman has linked with the Indonesian terror group Jemaah Islamiya and behind the spate of bombings in central Mindanao.

Tens of thousands of government troops are pursuing hundreds of MILF rebels blamed for the series of deadly attacks in Mindanao since August.

But despite the overwhelming numbers of troops involved in the operations, the military has failed to locate Ameril Kato, Abdurahman Macapaar and Sulayman Panglian who led the attacks in the provinces of North Cotabato, Lanao del Norte and Sarangani.

Washington has blacklisted Usman and offered as much as $50,000 for information leading to his arrest.

The MILF is the country’s largest Muslim rebel group fighting for a separate homeland in Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)