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ZAMBOANGA CITY: Fighting ceased on Thursday between government
forces and Muslim rebels in Mindanao even as both sides have blamed
each other of breaking a seven-year old truce.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said
one of its rebels was wounded on Wednesday fighting in Maguindanao.
It blamed government soldiers for the hostilities in Maguindanao and
the fighting in Sarangani province.
“The military is to be blamed for all these
fighting. They attacked our forces,” Eid Kabalu, a rebel
spokesman, told The Manila Times.
Kabalu denied military reports that ten rebels
were killed in the clashes, but he insisted that four soldiers died
in the fighting. “One of our mujahideen was wounded in the clash,
but four soldiers were killed in the fighting and we also recovered
seven automatic rifles owned by the Philippine military,” he said.
Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, a regional army
spokesman, said the fighting stopped after rebel forces retreated to
the mountains. Ando, quoting civilian intelligence reports, said 10
rebels were reported killed in the fighting.
He said the fighting forced hundreds of families
to flee their homes for fear they would be caught in the crossfire.
“Our concern now are the civilians who were displaced by the MILF
attacks,” he said in a separate interview.
Civilians trapped in the fighting Wednesday near
Maitum town in Sarangani have been “liberated” by soldiers,
according Col. Gaudencio Pangilinan, commander of the Army’s
1002nd Infantry Brigade in the province.
Pangilinan said two soldiers were among the
military casualties, but he was quick to say that there were more
rebels killed in the fighting in Sarangani. “We have two
casualties, but the MILF suffered more,” he said.
Mayor Elsie Perrett of Maitum, Sarangani said
the situation has returned to normal. Perrett said the fighting
broke out after rebel forces ambushed government soldiers in the
village of Ticulab on Wednesday where unidentified gunmen killed a
civilian.
-- Al Jacinto
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