6 killed in 2 MILF attacks

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao — Four farmers and two militiaman were killed and another was wounded after Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels attacked two separate farming communities in North Cotabato yesterday.

The slain farmers are Dominador Lasida and his son, Elmer, Joey Busa and Lauro Cantor, all of Barangay Upper Dado in Alamada town. The wounded, Dionito Cantor, is now confined at the Cotabato Medical Center in Cotabato City.

The attacks came less than a day after rebels burned two electric posts in Tupi, South Cotabato, causing a power outage in surrounding towns and communities.

Investigation showed the farmers were on their way to the fields when the rebels, clad in fatigues with MILF patches, surrounded their houses and opened fire with machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades.

Alamada’s municipal peace and order council said the rebels had come from the nearby towns of Midsayap and Pikit.

After the carnage, the rebels looted the homes of the dead and took away their farm animals, the peace and order council reported to the Army’s 6th Infantry Division.

Led by two known henchmen of MILF chieftain Hashim Salamat, the rebels reportedly fled towards the hinterlands after seeing the arrival of soldiers and militiamen from nearby barangays.

Troops also fought a fierce gunbattle with MILF rebels in Barangay Kalakakan in Pikit town after the guerrillas tried to burn houses in a secluded farming community.–John Unson