MAGUINDANAO (Mindanao Examiner / Sept. 23, 2013) – Separatist rebels in southern Philippines allied with the Moro National Liberation Front have stormed several villages in North Cotabato province on Monday and took at least 15 people and used them as shield against security forces pursuing them, officials said.
Officials said four teachers and 11 farmers were taken by Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters as they flee from soldiers in Midsayap town in North Cotabato following a raid on a military detachment manned by militias.
Army Lt. Col. Dickson Hermoso, a spokesman for the 6th Infantry Division, said four rebels and one government soldier were killed in the fighting. “Troops are still pursuing the rebels and we have one casualty in the fighting. Four rebels were also killed in the clash,” Hermoso said.
He said the rebels, who split into several groups, were heading towards Datu Piang town in neighboring Maguindanao province.
The attacks came as security forces are also fighting MNLF rebels who launched simultaneous attacks in Zamboanga City on September 9 and sporadic fighting still continue in several villages.
It was not immediately known whether the latest rebel attacks were coordinated or tied with the MNLF violence in Zamboanga, but BIFF is also fighting for independence in the southern Philippines.
The BIFF split with the larger rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front which is currently negotiating peace with Manila. Both BIFF headed by Ameril Umra Kato and the MNLF under Nur Misuari are opposed to the peace talks between the Aquino government and the MILF, now the country’s largest Muslim rebel group also fighting for self-determination.
The MILF – then headed by Salamat Hashim – itself also split with the MNLF in 1978 over differences in ideology. Misuari said he is opposed to the government peace talks with the MILF, saying, Manila should first abide by the peace agreement it signed with the MNLF. Misuari signed a peace deal with the government in September 1996, ending more than 20 years of bloody fighting in the southern Philippines.
Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc, an army spokesman, said: “The Army’s 6th Infantry Division is ready to confront the spoilers of the peace process like the BIFF. Soldiers will protect the communities.”
Cabunoc claimed the series of BIFF attacks in North Cotabato’s Midsayap town started days before MNLF rebels stormed Zamboanga City. “The series of attacks by the BIFF in Midsayap started days before the Zamboanga hostilities. Our soldiers were deployed there,” he said.
In November 17, 2011, Misuari met with Kato in Maguindanao’s Guindulungan town where the two leaders agreed to support each other in Mindanao. Misuari said Kato’s group was well-armed and far larger than the MILF, now headed by Murad Ebrahim. He said the combined forces of the MNLF and Kato’s group is formidable.
Kato, accused by Philippine authorities as behind the series of deadly attacks in Mindanao in 2008, was disowned by the MILF and formed his own called Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement. Kato had led rebel forces in attacking civilian targets after peace negotiators failed to sign a Muslim homeland in 2008. The Supreme Court declared the accord unconstitutional.
Because of the attacks, police and military authorities have launched an operation to capture him, but Katao managed to elude arrest.Kato has repeatedly criticized Ebrahim for abandoning their struggle for independence and betraying the MILF when he agreed to a secret meeting called by President Aquino in Japan in August 2011. He accused Murad of corrupting the rights of the Bangsamoro people. (Mindanao Examiner)
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