ISABELA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 09, 2009) – Marine soldiers clashed with Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels before dawn Monday, killing two gunmen in the southern Filipino province of Basilan, where security forces are pursuing kidnappers holding six hostages, officials said.
Officials said the fighting erupted at around 2 a.m. in the town of Akbar after marines searching for the captives came under fire from rebel forces.
Two rebels killed in the fighting and that troops recovered their bodies, including two automatic rifles and grenades.
Officials said those killed were wearing MILF uniform and patches with markings “Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces,” the military wing of the rebel group which has been fighting for the establishment of a separate Muslim homeland in Mindanao.
The MILF has denied those killed were rebels, but kidnappers. “They were members of a kidnapped-for-ransom gang under a certain Commander Pula. They were not MILF rebels and they were killed in an ambush staged by the military,” Eid Kabalu, a senior MILF leader, told the Mindanao Examiner.
Kabalu said three kidnappers were killed in the ambush.
Marine Brigadier General Rustico Guerrero said soldiers were tracking down the kidnappers who are allied with the MILF. He said the gangs are still holding six people – a boy and a lending firm employee seized in Basilan and three teachers and a bakery owner kidnapped in Zamboanga City and brought to the province.
“There is an ongoing operation and we are tracking down the kidnappers and their innocent victims,” he said in a separate interview. (Mindanao Examiner)
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