MAGUINDANAO (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 8, 2012) – Sporadic clashes between government troops and Muslim rebels continued Wednesday in the southern Philippines where security are battling hundreds of gunmen who occupied several towns in Maguindanao province, officials said.
Officials said the fighting has been raging on for three days following simultaneous attacks mounted by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement, which is fighting for an independent state in the restive region.
As many as 500 rebels have taken positions in at least 5 towns and occupied a highway that links the province to other areas in central Mindanao. Snipers are still scattered in the highway where skirmishers have been reported.
“The highway is still closed because the rebels are still in the area. There are clashes and troops are still battling the rebels in the province,” Col. Prudencio Asto, a spokesman for the 6th Infantry Division, told the Mindanao Examiner.
He said three soldiers are killed since the start of the fighting before midnight Sunday. He said troops recovered the mutilated bodies of two soldiers and that they are still searching for the third victim, who was decapitated by rebels.
Two civilians were also killed by rebels, he said, adding, an army officer was among those wounded in the clashes.
“The soldier, who was reported missing in action, had been captured and tortured and beheaded by the rebels. His remains are still unaccounted for,” Asto said.
The rebels attacked military and civilian targets in retaliation to government offensives in Basilan province in the western part of Mindanao, a BIFM spokesman said.
On Tuesday, security forces fired several rounds of howitzer cannons on BIFM targets in Datu Saudi Ampatuan town. There were also reports that several houses owned by civilians were either torched or burned by artillery fires.
Rebels have broken into smaller groups and took positions in villages where they attacked security forces. More military tanks and armour vehicles were sent to the area to support foot soldiers fighting the rebels.
The larger rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which is currently negotiating peace with Manila, said the BIFM is being headed by Mohamad Alih Tambako, a senior deputy of Ameril Umra Kato, who split with the MILF, after accusing Murad Ebrahim, the group’s chieftain, of abandoning their demand for an independent state in Mindanao.
Kato vowed to fight for an independent Muslim homeland, but the 60-year old rebel leader suffered a stroke and Tambako took over the rebel group.
Kato is facing a string of criminal charges in connection to the series of attacks that he led after the failed signing of the Muslim homeland deal in 2008 between the MILF and the government. The Supreme Court declared the accord as unconstitutional and the aborted deal triggered a series of deadly attacks by Kato’s forces in Mindanao.
The MILF is now negotiating for a Muslim sub-state in Mindanao and peace negotiators have signed an agreement that would create a new political entity that will replace the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao which comprises Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao and Lanao, including the cities of Lamitan and Marawi.
Negotiators have resumed peace talks in Malaysia on Tuesday and are expected to continue the discussion on power-sharing and wealth-sharing, and issue of transition mechanism and territories which would form part of the proposed expanded Muslim autonomous region.
“Our negotiations are proceeding with undeniable momentum,” Marvic Leonen, the chief government peace negotiator, said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner from Kuala Lumpur.
He said while they are in the last stretch of the negotiations, “the next stages will still be as complex.”
“As we mentioned during the last round of talks, our principals will be confronted with issues that will require difficult decisions,” Leonen said, adding, he is “sure that our principals will be willing to make them and communicate them through us so that we can work on these concerns.”
Mohagher Iqbal, who heads the MILF peace panel, urged government peace negotiators persevere. “We expect every sort of obstacles and complications as the bargaining becomes more intense in the final stage,” he said.
Both groups have condemned the BIFM attacks, which coincided with the resumption of the peace talks.
“Clearly, this group of Ustadz Ameril Umra Kato are one of the few that are willing to go at lengths to deny our communities and our peoples the benefit of a just and lasting peaceful settlement to our armed conflicts,” Leonen said. “They have lost the moral high ground: they have put communities and civilians in harm’s way for amorphous and illegitimate objectives.”
Iqbal described the violent acts of the BIFM as an example of “dirty spoiling” and stressed that the “MILF has demonstrated itself as a reliable partner in peacemaking.”
“The path to peace is the most fruitful way, not through war. The MILF is confronting the problem of radicalism especially among the youth head on,” Iqbal said.
Leonen said the fighting will not affect the peace talks. “We will certainly not pause because of unreasonable violent acts from those who cannot see that the just way to resolve our conflict is through patient and candid dialogue,” he said.
The MILF, the country’s largest Muslim rebel group, is fighting for self-determination for some 4 million Muslims in Mindanao. (With a report from Mark Navales)
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