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By Al Jacinto Correspondent And
Jefferson Antiporda Reporter
ZAMBOANGA CITY: Muslim rebels
attacked military and government targets in North Cotabato province
as sporadic fighting continue in the South, officials said.
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)
fighters attacked an army post and a power pylon late Tuesday in the
hinterlands of Pikit town, scene of fierce clashes between rebel and
military forces since last month.
“The rebels attacked military
and government targets, but no one was injured or killed. The MILF
has been attacking our troops and bombing power pylons in
Mindanao,” said Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, spokesman for the Army’s
6th Infantry Division.
The MILF blamed the military for
the hostilities though, saying, government troops attacked areas
controlled by rebels. “It is the military, not us who should be
blamed. Soldiers are firing on us,” Eid Kabalu, a rebel spokesman,
said.
He said hundreds of government
soldiers have been deployed near MILF camps in the provinces,
increasing tension in Mindanao.
Armed Forces chief Alexander Yano
has told security forces to use considerable force against MILF
attacks. Fighting between soldiers and rebels still continue despite
a ceasefire accord. Military and rebel leaders have accused each
other of violating the truce.
The military assured on Wednesday
that the recent attacks launched by the MILF in Central Mindanao
will not distract the government from its main effort of achieving
peace in Mindanao.
Army Chief Victor Ibrado said
that it doesn’t mean that the military forces in Mindanao will
just allow the MILF to continue their offensive without retaliation.
He said despite the existence of the peace process policy, the Armed
Forces has the right to deal with such provocation with
proportionate and justified force and not be just “sitting
ducks” in the face of the attacks.
The MILF launched two attacks in
Central Mindanao this week resulting in the death of a farmer,
wounding a civilian and forcing 200 families to leave their house to
seek shelter in safer places.
On Tuesday, a still unidentified
farmer was killed after suspected Moro rebels gunned him down during
an attack in Aleosan town in North Cotabato.
On Monday MILF rebels attacked a
farming village in Matalam and injured a farmer identified as
Freddie Magbiray.
The attacks also forced some 200
families from Barangay Pagangan-Uno in Aleosan fled to the town of
Pikit town for safety.
Ibrado admitted that such
incidents were irritating and already taxing the patience of the
ground commanders but it should not detract us from the main effort
of pushing the peace agenda to a successful conclusion.
He added that the military will
deal with the MILF to defend themselves and the communities but
without losing sight of strategic directions adding good commanders
can properly calibrate their tactical responses.
“This is the command guidelines
being relayed by AFP chief Alexander Yano to all commanders,”
continued Ibrado who was one of the guests at the 61st anniversary
celebration of the Philippine Air Force in Mactan Airbase.
Peace talks were stalled last
year after Manila rejected demands by rebels to grant them ancestral
lands that would comprise a separate Muslim homeland in the
strife-torn, but mineral-rich Mindanao Island.
President Gloria Arroyo in 2001
opened up peace talks with the MILF, the country’s largest Muslim
secessionist rebel group, in an effort to end more than four decades
of hostilities in Mindanao.
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