15 MILF rebs killed in clashes

COTABATO CITY — Fifteen Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas and four soldiers were killed in separate clashes in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur yesterday.

Local officials in Sultan Gumander, a coastal town in Lanao del Sur, said a two-hour running gun battle erupted in Barangay Baraha after MILF rebels ambushed a convoy of soldiers in the town.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu confirmed the attacks but insisted that the hostilities were sparked by the intrusion of soldiers in the town he claimed was controlled by the rebels.

"Three soldiers were killed in the ensuing firefight," Kabalu said.

Local police sources said they received information from residents of Barangay Baraha that three soldiers and 11 rebels were killed in the skirmish.

The gunbattle stopped when the rebels retreated after running out of ammunition.

MILF guerrillas also ambushed a truck of the 7th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Gubat in nearby Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao.

The Army convoy was on its way to the command headquarters of the 6th Infantry Division when the rebels opened fire with automatic rifles and rocket propelled grenades along the Cotabato-General Santos City Highway.

Soldiers escorting the truck managed to return fire in a running gunbattle. One soldier, Cpl. Dennis Aguidado, died in the ambush while four rebels were killed in the ensuing firefight.

Maj. Gen. Generoso Senga, commander of the 6th ID, said bloodstains in the escape route of the ambushers indicated some of them could have been wounded in the encounter.

The military used MG-520 helicopter gunships to break up an ambush of the convoy, Senga said.

The MILF has been waging a renewed offensive against government forces despite efforts by the government to jumpstart the stalled peace talks with the separatist rebels.

P1-M reward up

Southern Command chief Lt. Gen. Roy Kyamco said the military is launching a massive operation similar to the all-out offensive launched in 2000 against the MILF, to get the rebels responsible for the death of civilians and the damage caused by their attacks in Maigo and Kolambugan towns last Thursday.

Kyamco stressed the military campaign is "an unceasing one" which will end only if the rebels in the region are crushed.

"Our operation in Lanao del Norte is not an all-out war. There is no war here. Rather, it is an all-out determination to get the perpetrators of any criminal activities in the province, especially in Maigo and Kolambugan towns last week," he said.

The MILF rebels, led by Abdurahman Macapaar alias Commander Bravo and Commander Yahyah Lacsudato and a certain Commander Minsupala, attacked the two towns and ambushed a passenger bus, killing the driver and scores of other civilians and villagers.

The rebels also damaged a bridge in Maigo which disrupted the flow of traffic to and from the western and eastern ends of northern Mindanao.

Even as the military succeeded in repulsing the rebels, President Arroyo ordered the indefinite postponement of the annual Palarong Pambansa in Tubod, Lanao del Norte, originally scheduled from May 4 to 11.

Kyamco, however, recommended that the Palaro should push through, claiming the military is able to secure the Mindano Civic Center, venue of the competition.

"I strongly recommend the continuation of the Palarong Pambansa because we (the military) are capable of securing the venue," Kyamco said.

Kyamco said Lanao del Norte officials pledged to help the military in securing the Palaro.

"In fact, Rep. Abdullah Dimaporo told me when I visited Lanao del Norte that the people of the province are now contributing one peso each to raise the P1 million bounty for Commander Bravo’s head," Kyamco said.

Earlier, Lt. Col. Francisco Simbahon, chief of the Civil Affairs Unit of the 4th ID, said businessmen in Iligan City and neighboring towns have agreed to raise a P2 million bounty for the arrest of Bravo and the other MILF leaders who staged the attacks.

Simbajon said the traders decided to raise the fund for the bounty "because they (businessmen) have also grown tired of giving protection money."

For his part, Maj. Gen. Cristolito Balaoing, chief of the Army’s 4th ID, said the attackers in Lanao were "ordinary criminals" hiding under the protection of the MILF to legitimize their operations.

"Much as we want to consider the group of Commander Bravo and others as rebels with political motive, what they have done last week was no more than criminal acts and (for) that they should face criminal liabilities," Balaoing said. – With Bong Fabe, AFP