COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 9. 2008) – Moro Islamic Liberation Front forces attacked Thursday a Philippine military patrol base, the second in barely two days in Mindanao, officials said.
Army Major Armand Rico, a spokesman for the Eastern Mindanao Command headquarters, said rebels harassed the base at around 8.25 a.m. in the village of Pagangan in Aleosan town in North Cotabato province.
“There were no reports of casualties in the latest attack,” he said, but a similar attack late Wednesday at an army detachment left one soldier wounded.
He said about 40 MILF rebels harassed the detachment shortly before 8.30 p.m. in the village of Pagatin in Maguindanao’s Datu Saudi Ampatuan town in the restive Muslim autonomous region.
“One soldier was wounded in the attack,” he said, adding, the rebels were led by Wahid Tundok, a notorious MILF commander wanted by authorities for the spate of bombings in the region.
The attack, the official said, triggered a heavy exchange of gunfire that lasted more than 30 minutes. There were no reports of enemy casualties, he said.
The military previously accused Tundok of providing sanctuary to Abu Sayyaf militants and Jemaah Islamiya bomb-makers Dulmatin and Pitono, both blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings.
It also linked Tundok to another MILF leader Abdul Basit Usman, who has links with the Jemaah Islamiya and wanted by the United States for terrorism.
President Gloria Arroyo has opened up peace talks with the MILF, the country’s largest Muslim secessionist rebel group in 2001, but suspended the negotiations last month after rogue commanders led a series of deadly attacks in Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)
No comments:
Post a Comment