COTABATO CITY – Philippine authorities are holding a Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebel commander implicated in deadly bombings in the southern port city of Davao.
Security forces captured Abdul Manap Mentang – who is wanted for the 2003 bombings in Sasa wharf and at the local airport – in North Cotabato’s Pigcawayan town.
The twin attacks, initially blamed by the military to the Indonesian’s terror group Jemaah Islamiya, left more than 200 people dead and wounded.
Mentang was believed to be part of the MILF’s special unit that carried out the attacks along with other rebels – several of them were captured over the years.
And one of them, Ismael Akmad, who admitted to military interrogators that they were all members of the MILF’s Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces under 102th Brigade and named the others as Jimmy Balughog, Tohani Bagundang, Esmael Usok and Ting Quidar – all natives of North Cotabato and Maguindanao provinces.
There was no immediate statement from the MILF, but its leaders are likely to disown Mentang and deny involvement in the terror attacks because of the peace process. The MILF signed a peace accord with the Aquino government in 2014, although Manila has to implement all the provisions of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro.
The accord envisions the creation of the Bangsamoro government to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao by 2016. The Bangsamoro Basic Law, once approved by Congress and ratified by the constituents in the proposed territory, will legalize the creation of the new Muslim region. (Mindanao Examiner)
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