Philippine troops search for MILF raiders

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / May 03, 2009) – Philippine security forces were tracking down Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels who attacked a banana plantation Sunday and killed one civilian in Mindanao Island.

It said four more civilians were wounded in the attack at around 6 a.m. at the plantation owned by North Cotabato Vice Governor Emmanuel Pinol in the village of Maybola in Tulunan town.

The rebels burned some 30 houses owned by villagers and also took two buffaloes and three horses.

The military said some 150 rebels were involved in the attack. Soldiers and pro-government militias engaged the attackers in a three-hour firefight until the rebel retreated, said Lt. Col. Jonathan Ponce, a regional army spokesman.

“The attack against the civilians is part of the MILF’s grand design to create chaos and sow terror in central Mindanao,” he said. “There is an ongoing operation to track down the attackers.”

The MILF earlier government troops of burning houses of civilians and indiscriminate artillery attacks in Mindanao where military offensives entered its second week.

Troops were pursuing rebels blamed for the spate of bombings and indiscriminate attacks on civilian and military targets in Maguindanao and North Cotabato provinces.

Peace talks between the MILF and the Arroyo government collapsed last year after the failed signing of the Muslim homeland deal.

Eid Kabalu, a senior MILF leader, said security forces targeted Muslim communities and that attacks were continuing. “Government soldiers were attacking civilian areas and the Muslims have been targets of these attacks. The soldiers burned houses of civilians and shelled Muslim communities in Maguindanao,” he said.

The MILF said dozens of houses were torched by army soldiers in the province and that the government offensives have displaced thousands of people.

Security spokesmen said the offensives targeted MILF leaders Abdurahman Macapaar, Ameril Kato and Sulayman Panglian, who led simultaneous raids in Mindanao last year.

The Army’s 6^th Infantry Division denied the MILF’s accusations and said the rebel group was behind the string of attacks that killed many innocent civilians in the restive region. (Mindanao Examiner)