MILF: ‘Uncoordinated’ PNP mission checked this time

COTABATO CITY—Local peace monitors have prevented another uncoordinated operation of police commandos against associates of slain Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias “Marwan,” in Maguindanao province, the chief negotiator of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said on Monday.

Mohaqher Iqbal said policemen from the provincial police office under Supt. Rogelio Jocson and the Special Action Force (SAF) “entered” an area controlled by the MILF’s 106th Base Command in Datu Abdullah Sangki town on March 18. “Their targets were not there,” he said.

Reached for comment, Jocson said it was a coordinated operation, but not against Marwan’s colleague, Filipino bomb-maker Abdul Basit Usman.

Local officials of Datu Abdullah Sangki had asked for police help as there were people reportedly trapped due to military operations to flush out Usman and his coddlers from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), he said.

“There were no SAF commandos with us, and my men were not surrounded by the rebels, as reported,” Jocson told the Inquirer by phone.

Iqbal said he was informed by the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities, which oversees the ceasefire between the government and the MILF, that the policemen were on “time on target” mission to get Usman and Malaysian terrorist Amin

Baco, alias “Jihad,” who were said to be hiding in the area.

The policemen on board a police truck marked “Maguindanao Provincial Police Office” and another vehicle were surrounded by MILF members, he said, adding that members of the local ceasefire monitoring team intervened and prevented “another Mamasapano incident.”

The rebel leader was referring to a Jan. 25 SAF antiterrorist operation in Mamasapano, also in Maguindanao, which was not coordinated with the MILF and ended in fighting between police commandos and Moro rebels.

Forty-four SAF policemen, 17 MILF rebels and three civilians were killed in the clash, stalling legislative action on a proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law to put in place an autonomous governing mechanism to end the Moro insurgency in Mindanao.

PNP investigators said members of the MILF’s 105th Base Command and the BIFF attacked the SAF commandos as they were pulling out from the site where they killed Marwan.

Iqbal said the policemen were advised to leave the area in Datu Abdullah Sangki and not to proceed with their mission to prevent an encounter.