200 MILF rebels raid Cotabato town

ZAMBOANGA CITY — About 200 suspected Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas attacked a remote village in North Cotabato, torching three houses and stealing three carabaos, the military reported yesterday.

Armed Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero said residents of Barangay New Antique in M’lang town were forced to flee after the rebels managed to overpower a small force of militiamen.

There was no immediate report of casualty or injury during the attack but the rebels abandoned the place.

"It seems the guerrillas have run out of provisions so they don’t spare even helpless and fear-gripped civilians," Lucero said.

Lucero said government troops have launched pursuit operations against the guerrillas.

Earlier, MILF rebels almost succeeded in toppling another power transmission tower of the National Power Corp. (Napocor) in Pikit, North Cotabato late Saturday.

Capt. Onting Alon, deputy information chief of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said only one of the four bombs separately strapped by the rebels to the four steel foundation brackets of the tower exploded, causing minor damage.

The rebels immediately fled after failing to topple the tower, located in Barangay Batulawan, taking with them the three remaining bombs that did not explode.

Alon said government troops are now conducting pursuit operations against the rebels reportedly led by Pakil Ayunan, an MILF commander wanted for robbery, murder and other criminal cases.

The military said the group of Ayunan is also responsible for the bombing of more than a dozen Napocor steel pylons in the neighboring towns of Pikit, Pagalungan, Pagagawan, Kabacan and Carmen towns, all in North Cotabato.

The MILF has been blamed for the spate of bombing attacks in Mindanao in recent weeks.

These attacks are believed to be in retaliation for the military’s capturing Buliok complex in Pikit, a known stronghold of the MILF, last month which left nearly 200 rebels dead. – Roel Pareño, John Unson