Government forces had stumbled on a jungle camp of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the mountains of Zamboanga del Norte province on Mindanao Island, the military said yesterday. MILF rebels had apparently abandoned the camp in the town of Sirawai even before security forces could arrive, said Lt. Col. Renoir Pascua, the Southern Commandâs information chief.
He said the encampment, about a kilometer wide, could accommodate some 300 persons and had a network of bunkers and trenches and a small area in what troops described probably as a graveyard. Pascua accused the MILF of violating a cease-fire agreement when it illegally constructed the encampment. âThe construction of the rebel camp is a violation by the MILF of the cease-fire agreement it signed with the government (last year),â he told Arab News.
| I am overwhelmed by surprise. Really. |
The MILF admitted establishing the Camp Salman Al-Farise in Sirawaiâs mountain complex called Sipakit, which the military claimed is being used as a springboard for terror attacks in Mindanao. It was not immediately known if the abandoned rebel camp was part of the MILFâs Camp Salman Al-Farise, one of 46 camps of the MILF in Mindanao. |