Moro rebel killed, 3 wounded in clash between MILF, Army in Maguindanao

DAVAO CITY – A Moro rebel was killed while a 15-year-old civilian, another rebel and a government soldier were wounded when fighting erupted between members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Army soldiers in the town of Datu Saudi in Maguindanao on Wednesday morning.

Von Al Haq, vice chair for military affairs of the MILF, said the fighting started at 10 a.m. after government forces who were conducting pursuit operations against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, allegedly entered without any coordination an identified base of the group’s 105th Base Command.

“We were shocked when we received reports about the incident because we were informed about the ongoing military operations against the BIFF and we told the AFP through the ceasefire mechanism to be careful because we have a base near the area,” Al Haq said.

He said the MILF was confident that there would be no complications because they have informed the military about the location of the 105th Base Command under Commander Haon.

“The MILF immediately activated our ceasefire committee to pacify the fighting. We also asked the International Monitoring Team to help troubleshoot the problem,” Al Haq said.

Another rebel was reportedly wounded while a government soldier was also hurt in the encounter.

The heavy firefight ended around noon after a total ceasefire was implemented.

“Both the MILF and the government, through the help of the IMT, should investigate why this incident happened despite our efforts to inform about the location of our forces,” Al Haq said.

The MILF initially requested that the operating government troops temporarily pull out from the area so that an organized ceasefire could be enforced to prevent further casualties.

Despite the death of a fighter, the MILF said that the peace agreement was not going to be disrupted. The MILF leadership expressed optimism that the encounter would be resolved and would not escalate.

The MILF said the clash was not in any way connected to the refusal of the present Congress to legislate the Bangsamoro Basic Law, which was aimed at facilitating the full implementation of the peace agreements between the rebel group and the government.  SFM