4 captured troopers freed by MILF rebs

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao — Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels set free yesterday four soldiers captured during a flare-up of fighting in this province, the military and the rebels announced separately yesterday.

Lt. Col. Julieto Ando, spokesman for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said Pfc. Alex Yumag and Pvts. Neil Lagat, Arnel Dibaudin and Wilfredo Castillano were turned over to members of the government’s ceasefire committee, chaired by Lt. Gen. Rodolfo Garcia.

Ando said the four soldiers looked haggard, but were all in good condition. One of them had superficial wounds in his leg, one local official who witnessed the turnover said.

A ceasefire that took effect Wednesday was still in place, paving the way for the handover, said Garcia, who is also Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) vice chief.

The military has said four soldiers and nine MILF guerrillas were killed on Tuesday after the rebels attacked troops seeking refuge in a mosque in Datu Piang in the province.

It had said 12 soldiers and government militiamen had gone missing and one of its helicopters had been damaged.

"We will be receiving soldiers from them today. The wounded and the casualties will be coming out," Garcia told reporters shortly before the handover, which took place near where they were captured.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu confirmed they held four soldiers captive and handed them over to the government half of a joint-ceasefire monitoring committee.

The soldiers were "treated humanely," Kabalu said, without elaborating.

By yesterday afternoon, the MILF’s ceasefire committee, chaired by Datu Benjie Midtimbang, worked out the arrangements for the four soldiers’ turnover to the military.

The soldiers were captured by the rebels while searching for kidnapped car dealer Norman Sia, who was snatched over the weekend by members of the Pentagon kidnap-for-ransom gang.

The fighting broke out after MILF guerrillas attacked government troops who were pursuing members of the kidnap gang from fleeing a known rebel camp in Barangay Gawang in Datu Piang. The military has accused the MILF of protecting the kidnappers.

Kabalu said the involvement of their men in the hostilities was "reactionary in nature."—With reports from AFP, Jaime Laude