Gov't-MILF fighting breaks out anew in Lanao town

Heavy fighting resumed early yesterday morning in Lanao del Norte as Muslim rebels attacked Army outposts, and the soldiers retaliated with artillery fire as their commanders vowed to crush the rebellion.

Despite the intermittent skirmishes, leaders of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said they are not withdrawing from the peace talks with the government.

Reports reaching Manila said MILF guerrillas assaulted an Army detachment in Kadalawan village, Munai town in Lanao del Norte, while government forces backed by tanks were attacking a rebel stronghold in Inudaran town.

This developed as leaders of the MILF and military officials traded accusations of provoking the fighting in violation of an existing ceasefire agreement.

There was no immediate report of casualties on both sides, although the MILF rebels said they destroyed two military tanks with the use of B-40 rockets.

Marine commander Brig. Gen. Emmanuel Tordosio vowed to crush the MILF forces that overran Kauswagan. "We will run after the rebels and pursue them wherever they hide until the enemies are flushed out. We intend to finish them off," he said.

"There is no let-up to this operation. We are ready for them," said Maj. Gen. Deomedio Villanueva, commander of the Armed Forces' Southern Command (Southcom) based in Zamboanga City.

Villanueva also assured the people that the military has enough airplanes to provide air support to ground troops involved in the clashes.

Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado, who flew to Kauswagan to assess the situation, said at least 81 MILF rebels were killed in the skirmishes over the past four days, while Armed Forces chief Gen. Angelo Reyes said the military lost eight soldiers.

Reyes added that the rebels also shot dead seven civilians for refusing to part with their fishing boats which the guerrillas used to flee from the fighting.

Agence France Presse reported, however, that the clashes left 21 rebels, nine soldiers, three militiamen and a policeman dead, and some 20 guerrillas wounded.

Villanueva confirmed that one of their armored personnel carriers (APCs) was hit by rebel rockets, adding they were still checking if the troops suffered any fatality.

The MILF claimed they have so far inflicted heavy damage on at least four APCs since hostilities flared up anew starting last Thursday.

MILF spokesman Mohaquer Iqbal said hundreds of soldiers maneuvered and bombarded MILF Camp Bilal killing an undetermined number of guerrillas and wounding several others.

"But we are sure the military also suffered heavy casualties," he added.

Iqbal said bad weather and poor communications hampered the relay of reports from their field commanders.

Villanueva said one of the rebels' satellite camps in the area was captured by combined elements of the elite Marines and Army Scout Rangers last Friday afternoon.

The Southcom chief justified the siege on Camp Bilal by saying it was being used as a springboard for terrorist activities by the rebels.

Mercado said 10 APCs and a Marine brigade would stay in Kauswagan to secure the town which was briefly occupied by some 400 MILF fighters last Friday.

MILF deputy chairman for military affairs Al Haj Murad warned that the fighting could spread to other areas if the soldiers would not call off their offensives.

"Our forces may have been engaged in hostilities with the soldiers, but still, we are staying in the talks," Iqbal said.

He clarified that the gunbattles were "tactical in nature," while the peace negotiations were a matter of policy vested in the MILF Central Committee headed by chairman Hashim Salamat.

Iqbal said any decision to pull out from the talks would have to be made by the MILF's policy-making body.

The government and the MILF are set to hold the fourth round of formal talks on May 2 to 3 after six working groups of the technical committee completed the proposed mechanisms on how the MILF's nine-point agenda would be tackled.

Iqbal pointed out, however, that it would be simply impossible to meet the June deadline set by President Estrada for the forging of a final peace accord.

He brushed aside reports that the MILF would sign a final peace treaty in exchange for P2 billion worth of infrastructure projects in Muslim-dominated areas of Central Mindanao. "There is no price for peace."

At the same time, Iqbal raised concern over the alleged militarization of certain areas in Mindanao, specifically in the two Lanao provinces and Cotabato.

The military and the MILF blamed each other for starting the latest gunbattles.

Military officials claimed that MILF guerrillas tried to overrun an Army outpost in Inudaran village in Kauswagan last Thursday, setting off clashes that initially killed 15 rebels and two soldiers.

The rebels also conducted simultaneous attacks on other Army outposts in Bacolod and Linamon towns, also in Lanao del Norte.

Iqbal, on the other hand, asserted that the fighting broke out when Army soldiers approached a rebel camp in Inudaran to arrest two MILF guerrillas suspected of bombing passenger buses aboard a ferry that killed 37 people in Ozamiz City.

In a statement, the military accused the MILF of committing at least 10 ceasefire violations, including the ambush on government troops Thursday night along the national highway in Kauswagan, killing six soldiers and wounding eight others. - With Edith Regalado, Perseus Echeminada, Mike Frialde, wire services