Army clash with ex-MILF rebels averted

COTABATO CITY: The Philippine Army’s 6th Infantry Division (6th ID) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) averted what could have been a bloody encounter between soldiers and former rebels deployed to hunt down high-value target drug trafficker Mokz Masgal in Midsayap, North Cotabato.

The MILF rebels, the same forces who killed foreign-trained bomb-maker Abdul Basit Usman last year, eventually broke through the Liguasan Marsh in Midsayap from Maguindanao after a three-hour delay caused by a coordination problem between their leader, Ustadz Wahid Tundok, and Army infantry and mechanized units positioned along their routes.