ILIGAN CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 23, 2008) – Philippine authorities tightened security in Mindanao following an attack on one of two trucks contracted by the UN to deliver food aid to thousands of war refugees in the troubled region, officials said.
One worker was killed in the attack late Sunday after gunmen opened fire on the truck as it passed the town of Calanogas in Lanao del Sur province. Authorities have blamed bandits for the ambush.
“We have tightened security in the highway and deployed more troops to help the local police patrol the area. Bandits were behind the attack that killed one worker,” Col. Rey Ardo, commander of the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade, said Tuesday.
Ardo said the second truck did not proceed to the town after the attack. He said troops and policemen were searching for the gunmen.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group, warned the bandits to stop their nefarious activities or face arrest. “They better stop or else we will give them a dose of their own medicine,” said Eid kabalu, a senior MILF leader.
Kabalu branded as “Mogadishu in Mindanao,” the 70-kilometer stretch of the highway in the province linking the towns of Calanogas and Ganassi, because of rampant attacks and robberies in the area.
One worker was killed in the attack late Sunday after gunmen opened fire on the truck as it passed the town of Calanogas in Lanao del Sur province. Authorities have blamed bandits for the ambush.
“We have tightened security in the highway and deployed more troops to help the local police patrol the area. Bandits were behind the attack that killed one worker,” Col. Rey Ardo, commander of the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade, said Tuesday.
Ardo said the second truck did not proceed to the town after the attack. He said troops and policemen were searching for the gunmen.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group, warned the bandits to stop their nefarious activities or face arrest. “They better stop or else we will give them a dose of their own medicine,” said Eid kabalu, a senior MILF leader.
Kabalu branded as “Mogadishu in Mindanao,” the 70-kilometer stretch of the highway in the province linking the towns of Calanogas and Ganassi, because of rampant attacks and robberies in the area.
He was referring to the capital of Somalia notorious for its armed militias and street violence and high levels of crimes.
The UN World Food Programme has condemned the attack. Thousands of families of were displaced by sporadic fighting between MILF rebels and government troops after the peace talks collapsed in August.
The MILF is seeking to establish a separate homeland for more than four million Muslims in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)
