Troops start taking positions near renegade Moro rebel camp
DATU ODIN SINSUAT, Maguindanao—Soldiers in full battle gear and backed by armored vehicles have been deployed to highways in the province, including those that lead to the hideout of renegade Moro rebel leader Ameril Umra Kato, the military said Wednesday.
Col. Prudencio Asto, spokesperson of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the deployment started on Monday.
But Asto quickly added that the deployment in Datu Unsay, Datu Saudi, Shariff Aguak, Datu Hofer and Guindulungan towns—which are near Kato’s Camp Omar—did not mean the military was planning to attack the former Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) leader.
Kato has broken off from the MILF and now heads the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement (BIFM) and its armed wing, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).
Some local leaders, who spoke on condition of anonymity, had said they believed the deployment came amid intelligence reports that suspected terrorist Basit Usman had joined Kato’s group.
Usman is being linked to the Jemaah Islamiyah and has been blamed for previous bomb attacks in several Mindanao areas.
Last year, he was reported killed during a US drone strike in an al-Qaida base in Pakistan but Philippine military officials said the report has never been verified.
“The soldiers along the highways are part of preventive measures employed by the military in the face of continuous threats of bombing, especially road side bombing,” Asto said.
Asto said the intelligence report about Usman hiding in Maguindanao, especially inside Kato’s camp, has not been verified so far.
“We are still validating that report,” Asto said.
Kato told the Inquirer by phone that he did not even know Usman.
“I do not know him, he is not with us,” he said in Filipino. Edwin Fernandez, Inquirer Mindanao
