AFP FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—The Armed Forces of the Philippines said Wednesday its troops were targeting Abu Sayyaf terrorist group leader Furuji Indama and not the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in an ongoing military operation in Basilan province that has left two soldiers and 18 other persons dead, including four MILF fighters.
“We did not attack the MILF. We attacked the Abu Sayyaf. Our intelligence information was against the ASG and we had good information that he (Indama) was in the area,” Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala, the AFP public affairs office chief, told the Inquirer by phone.
MILF leader Ghadzali Jaafar was quoted as saying that the four MILF fighters had been “martyred” and he took the military to task for attacking an MILF unit in Basilan.
Zagala said that the military coordinated its operations against the al-Qaida linked Abu Sayyaf with the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG).
The AHJAG is described by the government as “the mechanism between the MILF and the government that responds to criminality and terrorism in areas with MILF presence.”
Zagala stressed that the AFP has always supported the peace process with the MILF.
Last month, the Aquino administration and the MILF signed a peace agreement that aims to end the decades-long conflict in Central Mindanao that has killed 150,000 and displaced hundreds of thousands more.
“It was never our intent to spoil the peace process. We support it and we are in full coordination with the MILF, through the AHJAG, in our operation,” Zagala said.
He said it was “unfortunate” that MILF members were among the casualties in the fighting that began last Friday.
“We have to look into why they (MILF fighters) were there,” Zagala said.
Zagala reiterated the statement of AFP chief of staff Gen. Emmanuel Bautista that the slain MILF fighters acted on their own and their participation in the fighting was not sanctioned by the MILF leadership.
Bautista on Tuesday told the Inquirer that the MILF fighters who engaged the military in a gun battle were believed to be relatives of the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan led by Indama, who has a multi-million peso price on his head.
Another military source told the Inquirer that Indama is married to the sister of MILF fighter Imamul Mande, which was why the latter and his followers always give “safe haven” to the Abu Sayyaf bandits when they are pursued by the military.
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