MILF, Kato men clash in Maguindanao

[wpgmappity id=”664″]

COTABATO CITY—Two Moro guerrilla factions, one of them engaged in peace talks with government, clashed in Maguindanao on Tuesday, according to police yesterday.

Senior Supt. Jaime Pido, newly installed Maguindanao police chief, said there have been no reports yet of casualties in the clash between members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

BIFF is the armed wing of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement, a group that former MILF leader Ameril Umra Kato formed after he broke off from the MILF.

Pido said police are still checking if either side suffered casualties in the clash, which took place just as government forces are hunting down followers of Kato responsible for a series of attacks on civilian communities in Maguindanao and other areas.

The clash between MILF and BIFF, according to Pido, took place in Datu Saudi town in Maguindanao just after residents displaced by BIFF attacks there have returned home. The residents fled anew as a result of the latest clash.

Pido said tension is still high in the area.

Abu Hizbala, BIFF deputy spokesperson, confirmed that BIFF members clashed with MILF forces.

In an interview with a radio station here, Hizbala said MILF forces attacked BIFF position in Datu Saudi town. He refused to say, however, if BIFF suffered any casualty.

But Von Al Haq, MILF spokesperson, said in a separate interview that MILF guerrillas were fired upon by BIFF members in Barangay Katapan in Datu Saudi, which triggered the gun battle.

In Sultan sa Barongis town, clashes also took place on Wednesday but between two rival factions of the MILF.

Mayor Jacob Ampatuan, of Rajah Buayan town which is adjacent to Sultan sa Barongis, said the new clashes were sparked by an “unresolved land dispute” involving commanders of two MILF units—the 105th and 106th base commands.

Col. Prudencio Asto, spokesperson of the military’s 6th Infantry Division, said soldiers in Sultan sa Barongis and Mamasapano, where the clashes spread, have been ordered to be on guard and prevent the guerrillas from bringing the gun battles to civilian communities.

MILF is currently engaged in peace talks with the government that seek to bring a peaceful end to Moro rebellion in Mindanao by replacing the current autonomous government with a new one that would have an expanded territory to govern.

While members of the negotiating panels of MILF and government are oozing with optimism over the talks, some government officials expressed concern over the emergence of Kato’s group which is a repeat of the breakup of the Moro National Liberation Front and the birth of MILF as a splinter group.

In 1996, MNLF entered into a peace agreement with the government, under then President Fidel Ramos, which excluded MILF. Charlie C. Señase, Inquirer Mindanao