A Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebel mans his machine gun at a village in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)
COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 24, 2011) – Philippine Muslim rebel group, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, have tagged Monday the powerful Ampatuan clan as the alleged owner of a huge cache of weapons buried at a cemetery in Mindanao.
The clan was linked by the police and military to the 2009 gruesome murders of 57 people, at least 32 of them journalists who accompanied a political convoy in Maguindanao province.
Police commandos recovered high-powered weapons after intelligence reports pointed to its location at a cemetery in Cotabato City in Maguindanao last week.
Among the weapons recovered by the police were five machine guns, mortar tubes and munitions, among others.
“The arms found in the cemetery in Cotabato City on January 20 are part of the 3,000 or so firearms of a private army belonging to a powerful Moro politician who are now behind bars in connection with the massacre of 57 people mostly members of the media on November 23, 2009,” said Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which is currently negotiating peace with Manila.
The rebel group said it obtained the information from a former member of the clan’s private army in the Ampatuan hometown of Shariff Aguak. “The arms were part of the firearms supplied or bought from unscrupulous dealers from the military,” it said.
Security forces had seized hundreds of high-powered weapons and munitions the clan allegedly hid in various places in Maguindanao after its patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr, the governor of Maguindanao; and his sons – Zaldy Ampatuan, the regional governor of the Muslim autonomous region; and Andal Ampatuan Jr, the mayor of Datu Unsay town, and their relatives were arrested three days after the brutal murders.
There were no immediate statement from the Ampatuan or their lawyers about the allegations, but the clan had previously denied owning the weapons seized by the authorities in Maguindanao and the killings. (Mindanao Examiner)
The clan was linked by the police and military to the 2009 gruesome murders of 57 people, at least 32 of them journalists who accompanied a political convoy in Maguindanao province.
Police commandos recovered high-powered weapons after intelligence reports pointed to its location at a cemetery in Cotabato City in Maguindanao last week.
Among the weapons recovered by the police were five machine guns, mortar tubes and munitions, among others.
“The arms found in the cemetery in Cotabato City on January 20 are part of the 3,000 or so firearms of a private army belonging to a powerful Moro politician who are now behind bars in connection with the massacre of 57 people mostly members of the media on November 23, 2009,” said Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which is currently negotiating peace with Manila.
The rebel group said it obtained the information from a former member of the clan’s private army in the Ampatuan hometown of Shariff Aguak. “The arms were part of the firearms supplied or bought from unscrupulous dealers from the military,” it said.
Security forces had seized hundreds of high-powered weapons and munitions the clan allegedly hid in various places in Maguindanao after its patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr, the governor of Maguindanao; and his sons – Zaldy Ampatuan, the regional governor of the Muslim autonomous region; and Andal Ampatuan Jr, the mayor of Datu Unsay town, and their relatives were arrested three days after the brutal murders.
There were no immediate statement from the Ampatuan or their lawyers about the allegations, but the clan had previously denied owning the weapons seized by the authorities in Maguindanao and the killings. (Mindanao Examiner)
No comments:
Post a Comment