Soldiers Arrest 3 MILF Rebels Implicated In Murder, Attack On Southern RP Village

Photos released by the Army's 104th Infantry Brigade show assorted radios, explosives and munitions left behind by MILF commander Lumundaya Mabuntal after a clash with soldiers in Lanao del Norte province in Mindanao.

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 10, 2008) – Philippine soldiers arrested Friday three Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels implicated in the killing of a village chieftain in Mindanao, officials said.

Officials said troops raided a rebel hideout and arrested the trio in the village of Sambolawan in Datu Saudi Ampatuan town in the restive Muslim autonomous province of Maguindanao.

But the Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels said the three men were innocent civilians arrested at a refugee shelter in the village.

“This is a clear violation of human rights. Troops raided the evacuation center, causing panic and fears among children and women, and they arrested three innocent Muslim men on mere suspicion they are MILF supporters or rebels,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.

The MILF identified the trio as Surab Sinuka, 30; Nasser Abubakar, 33; and Abe Kalikod, 35.

Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, a spokesman for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, denied the MILF claims and said the three men behind the recent killing of a village chieftain in the town, scene of previous battles between rebels and soldiers.

“What soldiers raided was a hideout of lawless MILF members and not a refugee center. The three men are under rogue MILF leader Ameril Kato, whom is wanted by authorities for deadly attacks in the provinces,” Ando said in a separate interview.

Ando said the three men were also involved in previous attacks in the village of Pagatin in Datu Saudi Ampatuan. “We have recovered a grenade launcher and munitions from their hideout. The three rebels are being interrogated,” he said.

Sporadic fighting continues in Mindanao between rebel and government forces since August after MILF gunmen raided and killed many innocent civilians in North Cotabato, Lanao del Norte and Sarangani provinces.

The aborted signing of the Muslim ancestral domain with the MILF triggered the attacks, blamed on Kato and two other rebel leaders Abdurahman Macapaar and Sulayman Pangalian.

Authorities also tagged the MILF as behind the series of bombings that toppled steel pylons of the state-run National Transmission Corporation (Transco) in Mindanao.

Army Col. Benito de Leon, commander of the 104th Infantry Brigade, said Macapaar’s group was among those behind the toppling of the pylons in the provinces of Lanao del Norte, Sarangani and North Cotabato.

He said troops on Wednesday clashed with Macapaar’s group in Lanao’ Poona Piagapo and Munai towns and captured rebel weapons and improvised explosives left behind by MILF commander Lumundaya Mabuntal.

Mabuntal, alias Commander Topsider, is Macapaar’s most trusted aide and behind the spate of bombings of power pylons in the provinces, the colonel said.

“Mabuntal or Topsider, the most trusted henchman of Abdullah Macapaar alias Commander Bravo, is responsible for the series of bombing of Transco power line towers in the area,” De Leon said.

“The operations against rogue continue. The series of engagements and continuous law enforcement activities of the military had steadily stripped the (rebels) of their bases and logistics, drastically reducing their atrocious capability,” he said.

President Gloria Arroyo opened up peace talks with the MILF in 2001, but suspended the negotiations last month because of the rebel attacks in Mindanao.

She demanded the MILF to surrender Kato, Macapaar and Pangalian before peace talks could resume. The MILF, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group, rejected the demand. (With a report from Juan Magtanggol)