CHILD WARRIORS Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, some of them obviously in their teens, are shown in this photo taken inside the BIFF camp in Datu Saudi Ampatuan town in Maguindanao province on Friday.The death toll in the ongoing clashes has reached 53, including three child soldiers. JEOFFREY MAITEM/INQUIRER MINDANAO
The military on Friday said three child soldiers recruited by the hardline Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) were among 53 people killed in a week of fighting with government forces and that “two foreign combatants” were helping the rebels, including a Malaysian who is wanted for the 2002 bombing in the Indonesian resort island of Bali that killed 110 people.
Brig. Gen. Eduardo Pangilinan, commander of the Philippine Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade, identified the Malaysian militant as Zulkifli bin Hir, who has a $5-million price on his head for the bomb attacks on two nightclubs in Bali.
Pangilinan did not identify the other foreign militants, but said the two foreigners had been fighting alongside BIFF forces since the clashes in Maguindanao province started five days ago.
Col. Dickson Hermoso, spokesperson for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said that of the 53 bodies of slain BIFF fighters recovered on Friday, three were those of minors.
Hermoso said the children were 15 to 16 years old.
“They were child fighters because they were in fatigue uniforms with BIFF markings and possessed firearms,” Hermoso said.
Identified and buried
The slain child combatants, along with some 20 other dead rebels, had been identified with the help of local officials, Hermoso said.
They were also buried with traditional Islamic rites by local clerics, he added.
Hermoso said the discovery of the children’s bodies proved what the military had been saying all along—that the BIFF was employing child soldiers.
“They are employing child soldiers with guns and camouflage uniforms. When we encounter them, we cannot discriminate if they are children or not,” Hermoso said.
He said the BIFF’s employment of child soldiers was a clear violation of international war agreements and humanitarian laws.
“We strongly denounce the use of child soldiers. They should be in school and not on the battleground,” Hermoso said.
Peace agreement
The military offensive in Maguindanao came after the main Moro rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), successfully concluded peace talks with government negotiators in Malaysia last week aimed at ending four decades of insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of people in Mindanao.
The BIFF is a small group of insurgents opposed to the peace effort. It broke away from the MILF in 2008 after failed peace talks with the administration of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and had since carried out many deadly attacks in a bid to derail the peace process with the MILF.
The website of the UN special representative on children and armed conflict said that it “continued to receive credible reports that the (BIFF) armed group was actively training and providing weapons to children.”
Child soldiers denied
Abu Misry Mama, a spokesperson for the BIFF laughed off the military’s child-soldier report.
“The military has been saying a lot of things, but these are all lies,” Mama said.
Mama denied that the BIFF was employing child soldiers.
“No, we don’ have child soldiers,” Mama said in a text message.
He admitted, however, that four BIFF fighters had been slain in clashes with government troops this week.
Government forces launched the offensive on Monday to arrest BIFF leaders who had been ordered arrested by local courts and to degrade the group’s capability to inflict harm on government forces and civilians and undermine the peace process.
Hermoso said the operations were going the military’s way, with only one soldier being killed in five days of fighting.
But 13 other soldiers had also been wounded in the fighting.
Wrapping up operations
If the trend continues, the military will wrap up the assault in two to three days, Hermoso said.
“[We hope], with this development, the fighting will die down and the [people displaced by the fighting can] return home,” he said.
Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala, spokesperson for the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said that troops had captured the BIFF’s main camp as well as the rebels’ bomb-making factory.
“Our objective is to curb the use of IEDs (improvised explosive devices) so as to protect the people and the community and protect the peace process because by doing (these bombings), they are spoiling the peace process,” Zagala said.
The MILF is cooperating in the military operations against the BIFF by holding back its own forces and not letting the hardliners seek refuge in MILF territory.
Fighting is likely to end Saturday as part of an arrangement with the MILF, Zagala said.
But Mama said the BIFF fighters were willing to die and were not going to back off.
“Our stance remains, we will fight to the last drop of our blood in defense of our rights,” he said.
Be peacemakers
In a statement, government chief negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer on Friday appealed to the BIFF to become part of the peace process.
“We ask them to listen to the plea of their own brothers and sisters to give peace a chance,” Ferrer said.
She said BIFF fighters willing to support the peace process would be most welcome.
“We know that BIFF members can also contact supporters or local ground commanders of the MILF who could facilitate their return to normal lives.
These and other avenues are open for those among the BIFF who are ready to join us in our peace efforts,” she said. With a report from AFP
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