ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 17, 2008) – Two government soldiers and three MILF rebels were killed in fierce fighting in the southern Philippines, officials said on Wednesday.
Officials said five rebels and a soldier were also wounded in the fighting Tuesday in the village of Bansayan in the town of Piagapo in Lanao del Sur, one of six provinces under the restive Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao.
But troops recovered no bodies of the slain rebels, although an army spokeswoman Lt. Steffani Cacho, quoting intelligence reports, insisted that three MILF fighters were killed and five more wounded in the clash.
“Our troops continue the hunt for the lawless MILF group responsible for the crimes committed against the people of Lanao, especially Bravo and Pangalian,” Cacho told the Mindanao Examiner.
She said the rebels belonged to a rogue faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, blamed for a series of deadly attacks in August in Lanao del Sur and other areas in the autonomous region, a known stronghold of the MILF.
Cacho was referring to MILF leaders Abdullah Macapaar, alias Commander Bravo, and Sulayman Pangalian who, along with Ameril Kato, another rebel commander, launched attacks in Lanao, Maguindanao and Sarangani provinces after the failed signing of the Muslim homeland deal, which would have created the so-called Bangsamoro Juridical Entity.
Because of the attacks, President Gloria Arroyo disbanded the government peace panel negotiating with rebels and demanded the MILF to surrender the three commanders.
Manila has put up a P10 million bounties each for the capture of Macapaar, Kato and Pangalian. Arroyo said the government would only return to the peace talks if the MILF surrenders the three rebel commanders. But the MILF rejected the demand and said it would resume talks if Arroyo honors the ancestral domain deal. (Mindanao Examiner)
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