Philippine Army blames Moro rebels for attacks on civilian targets

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Military shelling hit civilian areas in Mindanao, says MILF rebels

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / June 16, 2009) – Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels accused government troops of indiscriminate shelling after an artillery exploded near a refugee shelter in Maguindanao province in the troubled Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao.

It said at least three civilians, including a girl, were wounded in the explosion that occurred late Monday in the village of Libutan in Mamasapano town. The injured, Sapia Zainal, 10; Zaid Abas, 20; and Bayan Tunadzi, 23, were rushed to hospital in Cotabato City.

“Victims had sustained severe wounds in different part of their bodies,” the MILF said.

It said the shelling also hit the village of Linantangan and that several civilians were also injured from shrapnel.

Government forces launched offensive against the MILF after peace talks collapsed last year. The military said some 100 rebels were killed in the offensives, but the rebel group disputed the reports and branded it as propaganda.

”Civilian communities and makeshifts for internally displaced persons were not spared from the Armed Forces of the Philippines indiscriminate artillery and air strikes despite the fact that AFP know very well that its strikes were hitting civilian concentrations.”

“Dozens of innocent civilians had been killed and injured as a result of the AFP operations, but the Commission on Human Rights and the Department of Justice of the Government had never bothered to execute their mandates on this AFP carnage. Tolerating this AFP atrocities and crimes committed with impunity can be equated to more and more and countless victims,” the MILF said.

Officials and spokesmen from the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, which is in-charge of the government offensive, could not be reached for comment. The MILF is the country’s largest Muslim rebel group which is fighting the past three decades for self-determination in Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)

27 killed in new fighting in southern Philippines

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 28, 2009) – At least 27 Muslim rebels and government soldiers were killed in fierce clashes in the southern Philippines, where security forces are battling the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Five more soldiers were also wounded in Friday clashes in the village of Bialong in Mamasapano town near in the Muslim autonomous province of Maguindanao where President Gloria Arroyo visited.

“At least 20 rebels and seven soldiers were killed in the fighting. The rebels attacked troops in the area that triggered the clashes,” Army Lt. Col. Jonathan Ponce, spokesman for the 6th Infantry Division, told the Mindanao Examiner.

Ponce said the fighting started at around 5.30 a.m. and lasted more than eight hours. He said soldiers clashed with some 80 MILF rebels.

The MILF, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group fighting for independence, said only two of its members were killed in the daylong clashes. “Only two of our fighters were killed fighting for freedom. There were more soldiers killed in the fighting,” Eid Kabalu, a senior MILF leader, said in a separate interview.

He said MILF forces also destroyed two army tanks and seized a cache of weapons, including an M60 machine gun, from the military.

Kabalu accused the military of provoking the rebels when troops raided an MILF stronghold in the village of Bialong and clashed with rebel forces. “We don’t know why troops attacked our position, but this is a violation of the cease-fire agreement the MILF signed with the Philippine government,” he said.

Peace talks between the MILF and Arroyo government collapsed in August last year after the failed signing of the Muslim homeland deal the negotiators initially signed in Malaysia, which brokered the seven-year old talks. (Mindanao Examiner)

Troops Kill 19 Moro Rebels In Southern RP

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 1, 2008) – Philippine soldiers killed at least 19 Moro rebels in a sporadic, but fierce clashes that also left 3 infantrymen wounded in the restive Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao, an army spokesman said Saturday.

Officials said Moro Islamic Liberation Front forces launched simultaneous attacks Friday on government troops in the towns of Mamasapano and Datu Saudi Ampatuan in Maguindanao, one of six provinces under the autonomous region.

“At least 19 rebels were killed in the clashes and we have already identified three of the slain gunmen. Three of our soldiers are also wounded in the fighting,” Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, of the 6th Infantry Division, told the Mindanao Examiner.

He said the rebels were under Ameril Kato, one of three MILF leaders implicated in the series of deadly attacks on civilian targets in Mindanao since August.

The MILF denied that 19 rebels were slain in the fighting. “That’s not true. It is just one of the military’s propaganda,” said Eid Kabalu, a senior MILF leader.

Troops were also pursuing Abdullah Macapaar and Sulayman Pangalian, tagged as behind attacks in North Cotabato and Sarangani provinces in recent months.

The military previously said that Kato and Macapaar were on the run and without munitions because of the continued government offensives and in several occasions claimed the rebel leaders had been killed in separate fighting.

But both Kato and Macapaar later surfaced separately and held their own clandestine media interview and vowed to launch more attacks and at the same time dared the military to get them.

Manila suspended peace talks with the MILF, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group fighting for self-determination in Mindanao, after the rebel attacks in August.

The attacks were triggered by the failed signing of the Muslim territorial deal between the MILF and the government. The deal would have granted more than four million Muslims their own homeland across 700 villages in the troubled region, but the agreement also sparked massive protests from residents and politicians opposed to the accord.

The Supreme Court recently declared the ancestral domain deal unconstitutional. (Mindanao Examiner)

16 Killed In Fierce Fighting In Southern Philippines

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 27, 2008) – At least 15 Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels were killed in fierce gun battle Monday in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, a regional army spokesman, confirmed the fighting and said many rebels were killed and wounded in the skirmishes in the village of Diate in Mamasapano town in Maguindanao province.

He said one soldier was killed and four others wounded in the fighting.“Reports on the ground indicated heavy casualties on the rebel side,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.

But other military sources said as many as 15 rebels were slain and dozens more wounded in the clashes.

The MILF has said that fighting was raging in Maguindanao and other provinces nearby.

Authorities captured on Monday a senior MILF commander, Macaslang Angni, who was wounded in a gun battle over the weekend in Lanao del Sur province, where fighting also erupted Sunday.

He was captured in the town of Bacolod in the neighboring province of Lanao del Norte.

Angni was rushed to hospital under police escorts because of his wounds after being shot by soldiers in the leg and shoulder, according to a statement released by the Lanao del Norte provincial government.

It was unknown how the 64-year old Angni was captured, but provincial authorities said the rebel leader is considered one of the most wanted criminals in Lanao del Norte.

The MILF is the country’s largest Muslim rebel group which is fighting for self-determination the past three decades.

Peace talks between Manila and the MILF collapsed last month after MILF forces launched a series of deadly attacks against civilian targets in Mindanao over the failed signing of territorial land deal in August. (Mindanao Examiner)

Wanted Terror Leader Strikes Anew, Burns Govt Buildings In Mindanao

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 22, 2008) – A Filipino rebel leader with links to the Indonesian militant group Jemaah Islamiya and wanted both by the Philippines and United States governments, struck in the restive region of Mindanao, torching government buildings and civilian houses, officials said Monday.

Abdul Basit Usman and Abas Awab, both have links with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels, were tagged by the military as behind the arson attack late Sunday in the town of Mamasapano in Maguindanao province.

Although there were no reports of civilian casualties, the raid sent a chilling warning to authorities that terrorists can still strike despite repeated government assurance that it is on top of the situation.

Tens of thousands of government soldiers are pursuing hundreds of MILF rebels blamed for the series of deadly attacks in Mindanao last month.

But despite the overwhelming numbers of troops involved in the operations, Manila failed to locate Ameril Kato, Abdurahman Macapaar and Sulayman Panglian who led the attacks in the provinces of North Cotabato, Lanao del Norte and Sarangani.

The latest attack added more fears to civilians in areas where the MILF rebels are actively operating.

Colonel Julieto Ando, a spokesman for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said Usman’s group burned a government medical clinic, a day care center and a building used as office of the Special Zone of Peace and Development agency and civilian houses.

The MILF has disowned Usman, but Ando said the terror leader and Awab are members of the rebel’s 105th Base Command and blamed for the spate of bombings in Mindanao.

“As far as the military is concerned, Usman and Awab are members of the MILF,” Ando said without elaborating further.

The U.S. Government Rewards Program offered up to $50,000 for information leading to Usman’s apprehension.

“Abdul Basit Usman is a known terrorist with links to Jemaah Islamiyah and believed responsible for bombings in Mindanao in October 2006 that killed eight innocent civilians and left 30 others wounded. He is also implicated in a recent series of bomb attacks in Mindanao that killed seven and wounded 37 others,” it said in a statement. (Mindanao Examiner)

MILF Rebels Seized Food Aid In Southern Philippines

COTABATO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 5, 2008) – Philippines Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels have stopped a government convoy transporting food aid to a refugee shelter and seized dozens of bags of rice in Mindanao, army officials said Friday.

Colonel Julieto Ando, a spokesman for the 6th Infantry Division, said the MILF forces, led by rebel commander Bonnie Ayunan, intercepted the convoy on Tuesday morning near the village of Linantangan in Maguindanao’s Mamasapano town.

“The rebels carted away sixty bags of rice intended for refugees in the town,” Ando told the Mindanao Examiner.

He said none of the aid workers were harmed, but the rice could have fed many refugees in the village of Libutan where the government put up a temporary shelter for those who fled the fighting between military and rebel forces in Maguindanao, one of six provinces under the Muslim autonomous region.

Ando said the rebels fled towards the hinterland village of Dasikil, where a larger MILF forces were waiting. He said the food aid came from the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

The fighting had already killed more than 200 people and displaced as many as half a million since last month after rebel forces under Ameril Kato and Abdurahman Macapaar led a series of attacks on civilian targets in Mindanao after the aborted signing of a territorial deal between the MILF and the government.

Peace talks were stalled and the MILF warned that war could erupt in Mindanao if the negotiations totally collapse. Security forces are pursuing the rebels. (Mindanao Examiner)