Fighting goes on; 1,000 villagers trapped

FAMILIES from a remote village in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao leave their homes as renegade Moro rebels attack military detachments in the province. JEOFFREY MAITEM / INQUIRER MINDANAO

COTABATO CITY— Some 1,000 people have been trapped on a hill as clashes continued between Army soldiers and Moro breakaway rebels in Datu Unsay town in Maguindanao.

“They are asking for a ceasefire so they can come down” and head for the evacuation center, said Pombaen Karon-Kader, assistant secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Police reported that the bodies of two soldiers who were seized on Sunday by members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), which broke away from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), had been recovered.

Their hands were tied to their backs, Senior Superintendent Marcelo Pintac, Maguindanao police director, said.

Government and MILF negotiators were expected to meet in Kuala Lumpur yesterday as part of the peace process to end the decadeslong Moro insurgency in Mindanao.

Military sniper?

The fighting ensued after BIFF members launched simultaneous attacks on military detachments in at least seven towns in Maguindanao and North Cotabato, purportedly to retaliate for the death of their senior comrade in the hands of a “military sniper.”

Pintac said the fatalities included the two off-duty soldiers, two BIFF members and a civilian. “The two soldiers were flagged down by BIFF rebels who occupied portions of the highway in Datu Unsay,” he said.

Over 2,000 families have so far evacuated to safe grounds and were being assisted by social welfare officials, Kader said. “Many of them had just resettled after fleeing similar violence in past years,” she said.

Many civilians were still trapped in the fighting and could not continue trekking to evacuation centers in Datu Unsay for fear of getting caught in the crossfire, Kader said. They were asking for a halt in clashes for at least two hours.

Ceasefire call

Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu said he had earlier called for a ceasefire but “up to now, our request … remained unanswered.”

Army Colonel Prudencio Asto, speaking for the 6th Infantry Division, said efforts were underway to rescue the trapped villagers. “We assure the public that their safety is our utmost concern,” he said.

The official did not comment on the call for a ceasefire. Abu Misry Mama, BIFF spokesperson, rejected it, adding that his group would continue its attacks.

Two explosions, said to be related to the clashes, occurred in North Cotabato and Maguindanao. No one was injured.

On Monday, a homemade bomb went off in front of a paramilitary detachment in Barangay Tinibtiban in Pikit, North Cotabato. At 9:15 a.m. on Tuesday, another blew up at a roadside in Pagalungan town in Maguindanao, only a few minutes after a bus had passed.

Bomb defused

Earlier in the day, police ordnance experts in Midsayap town in North Cotabato defused a powerful bomb fashioned from an 81-millimeter mortar rocket with a mobile phone as trigger mechanism.  The bomb was left by still unidentified men in front of a vulcanizing shop on Sto. Niño Street.

MILF and other Moro leaders have denounced the BIFF attacks, especially since these happened in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

“Ramadan is when Muslim families fast and everybody hopes for prosperity and peace,” said acting ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman.

Ghazali Jaafar, MILF political affairs chief, said the attacks resulted in more hardships for many Maguindanao families.

Maguindanao Representative Simeon Datumanong said the attacks were uncalled for at a time when efforts were geared toward a peaceful resolution of the decadesold Moro conflict.

The BIFF was founded by Ameril Umra Kato, who broke away from the MILF in 2010 after serious disagreements over the peace process.

Asto said soldiers were conducting clearing operations along the Maguindanao highway to allow stranded vehicles to pass. The highway links Cotabato City and Maguindanao to Sultan Kudarat and South Cotabato, including General Santos City.