georgiagirl's Blog

MILF Rebels Mount Simultaneous Attacks In Southern Philippines Source : Mindanao Examiner Monday, 18 August 2008 04:41 COTABATO, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / August 18, 2008) – More than a dozen people were killed Monday as hundreds of Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels pillaged several towns in the southern Philippines. Gunmen went on a shooting rampage in Lanao del Norte and occupied the towns of Kolambugan, Maigo and Kauswagan as they advanced to occupy more areas in the province. Fighting was also reported in Tubod town, also in Lanao del Norte. Rebels also attacked the neighboring provinces of Sarangani and Sultan Kudarat, where an undetermined number of civilians were either killed or wounded. “There is fighting in the areas and we are trying to drive away the rebels,” Army Brig. Gen. Hilario Atendido, commander of a military task force, said. One commuter bus was ambushed at a rebel checkpoint near Kolambugan town at around 4.30 a.m. and rebels gunned down at least 14 passengers as they pleaded for their lives. “They were mercilessly gunned down. They were executed as they pleaded for their lives,” said bus Antonio Aurilla, who was able to escape the carnage along with three others. Aurilla said the rebels ordered those who left behind to line up outside the bus and executed them. “I heard the rebels shouting ‘finish them off’ and then there was a burst of gunfire” he told a radio station dxRZ Radyo Agong in Zamboanga City by phone from his hiding place in the town. One soldier, Cpl. Borlado, who was interviewed by dxRZ, said they also recovered 3 more corpses, apparently shot, at a bridge in Kolambugan town. He said at least two soldiers from his team were wounded in the fighting with rebels in the town. “Fighting is fierce,” he said. Six Catholic priests, led by Fr. Reggie Quijano, said they hid inside their convent in Kolambugan after rebels occupied the town. “I saw two squads of rebels near the our church and we immediately hid on the second floor on the convent,” he said. The priests were earlier reported to have been taken hostage by rebels. The highway connecting Lanao del Norte from other provinces was already occupied by rebels and that tens of thousands of civilians have fled their homes for fear they would be caught in the cross-fire. Witnesses said some areas in the occupied towns were burning after rebels torched houses and buildings as the fighting was raging. Radio reports said rebel forces burned down markets and government buildings in the towns. The MILF, which is currently negotiating peace with Manila, said the attacks were carried out by rebels disgruntled over the slow paced of the talks and the failure of both sides to sign the ancestral domain. “This incident could be connected to the failure of the signing of the ancestral domain deal and many rebels are disgruntled. We are trying to reach Commander Bravo, but we cannot get through him. This fighting should stop. We don’t want the fighting to spread to other areas,” Eid Kabalu, a senior MILF leader, said. Kabalu was referring to Abdul Rahman Macapaar, leader of the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces in the province. The Arroyo government opened peace talks in 2001 with the MILF, the country's largest Muslim rebel group which is fighting for the establishment of a strict Muslim homeland. Peace negotiators last month have reached a deal on the ancestral domain, but the Supreme Court stopped the formal signing of the accord last week that would eventually grant Muslims their own homeland in Mindanao after politicians and lawmakers opposed to the deal filed a petition. Ancestral domain is the single most important issue in the peace negotiations before the rebel group can reach a political settlement with the Philippine government. Presidential peace adviser Hermogenes Esperon said there is need to amend the Constitution to allow plebiscite on areas under the ancestral domain that would make up the so-called Bangsamoro Juridical Entity and give Muslims their own homeland. The ancestral domain covers the whole of the Muslim autonomous region – Sulu, Tawi-Tawi-, Basilan, Maguindanao and Lanao, including Marawi City. And some areas in Zamboanga Peninsula, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani provinces in Mindanao where there are large communities of Muslims and indigenous tribes. And also Palawan Island, off Mindanao. At least 3 people were also wounded in two separate bombings late Sunday afternoon in Iligan City in Lanao del Norte province. The bombs went off 20 minutes apart in two budget hotels. Iligan and Lanao del Norte are among the areas being claimed by Muslim rebels as part of their ancestral domain. Government troops on Friday also disarmed three homemade bombs in Kidapawan City and Mlang town in North Cotabato, where military forces regained control of 15 villages after a week-long battle with some 800 MILF gunmen that left more than two dozen rebels and soldiers dead and wounded and over 160,000 people fleeing their homes. (With reports from Mark Navales)

Philippine Army soldiers stand beside the bodies o
 

 Philippine Army soldiers stand beside the bodies of civilians killed by Muslim separatist rebels in the village of Lapayan during a raid in several villages of Kauswagan town, Lanao del Norte province on August 18, 2008. At least 28 civilians and three soldiers were killed in a fresh wave of attacks by Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in southern Philippines, looting businesses, burning homes and randomly attacking the mostly Christian villagers, officials said

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

               

wounded soldier










 

• A wounded soldier is carried by his comrades to be airlifted to the nearest hospital in Marawi City, southern Philippines, August 17, 2008. Muslim separatists killed at least seven Philippine soldiers and wounded a dozen more in an ambush on Sunday on the troubled southern island of Mindanao, the military said.