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| Southeast Asia |
| MILF commander text messaged Filippino counterpart before the attack |
| 2005-01-12 |
| JUST BEFORE some 100 Moro guerrillas launched a powerful attack on an Army detachment in Maguindanao province, the leader of the rebel force was texting the commander of the Army unit he was about to assault. "We are text mates," Colonel Jerry Jalandoni, commander of the Army's 604th Infantry Brigade, told the Inquirer. "He was texting me before the attack. He was blaming the Army for the death of Bides Binago." Jalandoni's textmate was Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) commander Abdulwahid Tundok, head of the MILF's 105th Brigade, which assaulted and overran the base of the 37th Infantry Battalion under Jalandoni's command. Bides Binago was the leader of the Abu Sofia kidnap-for-ransom gang whose death in an earlier military operation provoked Sunday's MILF attack. Tundok, now the object of a military manhunt, gave no inkling in his text message that he was about to attack. Troops recaptured the detachment on Monday afternoon and after bloody clashes in Barangay Linantangan in which at least 17 rebels and seven soldiers were killed, the military said. Major General Raul Relano, commander of the Army's 6th Infantry Division, said rebel casualties could rise to as many as 50 since the military had bombarded the rebels with 105-mm howitzer cannons and bombs from OB10 bombers. "We fired 150 rounds of howitzers. They hit their targets accurately," he said. Relano said seven soldiers died while one was wounded. Two soldiers who had been taken hostage by the rebels were later recovered alive. "The firefight has stopped," Relano told reporters in Camp Aguinaldo general headquarters, adding that Moro rebels had torched the detachment before fleeing. The firefight raged until the military brought in reinforcements. MILF spokesperson Eid Kabalu confirmed hostilities had stopped. "Since yesterday, there had been no fighting on the ground," he said. Kabalu said only one MILF fighter was killed. The military said Sunday's attack was led by Tundok and another commander named Faizal and was meant to avenge the death of Bides Binago, who had a brother in the MILF. Government forces have launched pursuit operations against the retreating MILF group. Relano said he hoped the MILF leadership would help in the capture of the renegade group which supposedly acted "independently" of the MILF. "We consider them as rebels and we will run after them," Relano declared. Kabalu said the wayward commander would be punished depending on the results of an investigation by the joint GRP-MILF Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH). "Let us wait for the findings and recommendations of the CCCH," he said. Members of both the CCCH and an international monitoring team composed of Malaysian and other international monitors arrived yesterday morning in Linantangan to conduct an investigation. MILF vice chair for political affairs Ghadzali Jaafar disowned Tundok's group and the attack, saying they had acted on their own. He said the Moro rebels were strictly observing their ceasefire with the government. "This is an independent decision of a few that is totally outside the realm of the MILF who had a 'misdirected' sympathy with Abu Sufyan Commander Bedis Abdulrahman (Binago), who died in battle against government troops in Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat recently," Jaafar said in a statement. He added: "We regret to say that this bloodletting has been taking place even as the ceasefire is holding effectively in Mindanao and the MILF-GRP peace talks have resumed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, recently." But Jaafar also protested the "blatant disregard" of the terms of the ceasefire by government troops when soldiers launched the operation in Palimbang town, Sultan Kudarat province, "without the slightest effort to inform us through the MILF CCCH." "Their excessive use of force and firepower has sent thousands of civilians fleeing their homes, leaving behind their properties and work animals," Jaafar continued. The two sides had signed a ceasefire in 2002 but this had been repeatedly breached in the past. The formal peace talks between the two sides are due to start in February in Kuala Lumpur. They are holding exploratory talks at this time. The bodies of the slain soldiers were recovered inside the ravaged military base. Six of them were identified as Cpl. Cesar Piedad, Pfc. Asihkon Matli, Pfc. Alnadzer Atari and Privates Roque Bantolo, Alex Cabaya and Mark Majomot, all members of the 37th Infantry Battalion. Another soldier killed, a certain Pfc. Lumacad, was taken by the withdrawing rebels for unclear reasons. Jalandoni said Sunday's attack proved that there existed an alliance between some MILF fighters and the bandit gangs Abu Sofia and the Abu Sayyaf, whose members were also allegedly involved in the assault. "But we believe the MILF leadership is unaware of this," he said. On Nov. 19, the military attacked an area belonging to the MILF's 105th Brigade following reports that Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon was sighted in the area. "Bides Binago and some MILF members served as Hapilon's local contact and guides while the ASG leader was in Central Mindanao," Jalandoni said. Despite the clashes, Kabalu said the MILF was determined to pursue the peace talks and was abiding by the ceasefire accord. The clashes displaced thousands of villagers who have yet to recover from the effects of previous encounters between soldiers and MILF rebels. Kagi Guimla, a 50-year-old farmer, said civilians, mostly women, the elderly and children, fled at the first gunburst on Sunday night. "We have been through several wars, but this one was too close. I saw the rebels crawling near our house shortly before midnight Sunday," he said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 "Sup G? R U N2 Ghad 2?" |
| Posted by: BH 2005-01-12 10:21:59 AM |