Villagers say homes hit by Army artillery fire

A RESIDENT of the village of Elian in Datu Saudi Ampatuan town, Maguindanao province, shows his house allegedly destroyed by artillery fire from the military. Another house was destroyed in the ongoing all-out offensive against members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, a group formed by former members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. JEOFFREY MAITEM/INQUIRER MINDANAO

DATU SAUDI AMPATUAN, Maguindanao—Civilian houses are among those hit by artillery fire from the military as government continues its all-out offensive against renegade Moro guerrillas.

Ibrahim Sacaria, a resident of the village of Elian here, showed the Inquirer   on Friday the extent of destruction caused by howitzer fire by the Army.

The artillery rounds destroyed parts of the roof of his house and created a crater big enough to swallow a car, he said.

“We are thankful that we managed to evacuate hours before,” Sacaria said.

He said he and his family were in the mosque in their village when their house was hit by the shelling.

Sacaria’s neighbor, Alon Maitula, said his house was also hit, with its roof blown away and thrown several meters into a mango tree.

“We ask the government to help us rebuild our homes,” he said.

In the village of Elian, at least four houses were directly hit by 105 howitzers.

At the state-run school that has been turned into an evacuation center, Eric Abdul compared the impact of the explosions to an earthquake.

Reached for comment, Capt. Jo-ann Petinglay, spokesperson for the 6th Infantry Division, said the military would investigate the matter.

“We will not tolerate that. It should be calculated, but you know our enemies are highly mobile,” Petinglay said.

Jerome Aba, spokesperson for militant group Suara Bangsamoro, said there were also cases of injuries to civilians allegedly caused by bullets that came from the guns of government forces. Jeoffrey Maitem, Inquirer Mindanao