Militiamen, MILF clash in North Cotabato

Rebels bombed by air, land -- rebel spokesman

INQUIRER.net, Inquirer
Last updated 01:16pm (Mla time) 01/27/2007

COTABATO CITY -- Government forces and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels clashed in Midsayap, North Cotabato on Saturday.

MILF officials said three militiamen and a rebel have been killed in the fighting -- which dealt another blow to a three-year ceasefire between the government and secessionist rebels and efforts to restart peace negotiations that bogged down late last year over the issue of ancestral domain -- and warned it could escalate into a full-blown war.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview that the military operations apparently targeted "lawless elements" in the area and involved “indiscriminate” ground and air bombardment of MILF-held territory that began Friday.

Mohagher Iqbal, MILF chief negotiator, accused the military of starting the clash.

Iqbal said the MILF was trying to pacify parties involved in a land conflict in the area and sent a team of negotiators on Friday.

Iqbar was apparently referring to an incident Thursday when, Kabalu said, a group called Bantay Bayan (Town Watch) engaged MILF forces in Rangeban over a long-standing land dispute.

Kabalu said at least three Bantay Bayan members were killed in the Thursday encounter.

Iqbal said the Army had targeted their negotiators, prompting them to fire back.

Kabalu said MILF forces in the area were not informed beforehand of the Saturday morning air raids, in which Philippine Air Force OV-10 Broncos dropped bombs on the villages of Rangeban, Bujang, Sambulawan, and surrounding communities.

"The military has shelled and launched air strikes on MILF positions in the villages of Rangeban and Mudseng, prompting hundreds of residents to evacuate for fear of their safety," Iqbal said.

On Friday, Kabalu said, government troops fired 81-millimeter mortars on Rangeban and an MILF peacekeeping force in Bujang.


"We condemn these indiscriminate bombings by the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines]," Kabalu said. "They don't need to use bombs if all they want to do is run after these lawless elements."

Lieutenant Colonel Julieto Ando, spokesperson of the Army's 6th Infantry Division based in Maguindanao, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net, the rebels initiated the violence when they attacked a village on Thursday.

Ando also denied the MILF claim that three militiamen were killed. He said only two were reported injured in the fighting, which started early Saturday morning Saturday.

Both parties said they would file protests with the ceasefire committee.

"We will definitely file a complaint before the CCCH [Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities]," Kabalu said.

Joel Guinto, INQUIRER.net; Edwin Fernandez, Jeoffrey Maitem and Charlie Señase, Inquirer Mindanao

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