MNLF camp in Sulu seized

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Government troops overran a suspected camp of renegade Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) forces in Indanan, Sulu yesterday.

Officials said troops found the rebel base empty but saw indications that its occupants hurriedly left after they were dislodged by heavy artillery attack a day before the offensive.

Joint Special Operations Group commander Brig. Gen. Ruperto Pabustan said the offensive was directed against MNLF commander Khaid Ajibun and his men who have joined forces with renegade commander Habier Malik.

Pabustan said Ajibun has been giving refuge to the Abu Sayyaf terrorists who beheaded their seven hostages last week in Parang.

"Ajibun is already helping with Malik," Pabustan said.

"We have also assaulted the camp because the Abu Sayyaf terrorists who were responsible in the beheading of the seven workers have returned to the camp of Ajibun," he added.

Pabustan said Abu Sayyaf leaders Albader Parad and Dr. Abu Pula, who were behind the kidnapping and beheading of the hostages, have sought refuge in the camp of Ajibun.

Pabustan said they launched an artillery attack on the rebel camp before troops closed in.

Pabustan clarified they did not proceed to the main MNLF camp itself located in Marang.

He cited the directive issued by Anti-terror Task Force Comet commander Maj. Gen. Rubel Rafael against initiating skirmishes with the mainstream MNLF in compliance with the 1996 peace agreement with the Philippine government.

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) public information chief Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said troops got as close as 600 meters before the Abu Sayyaf bandits were able to escape.

Bacarro also clarified the military operation is not directed against the MNLF but on the Abu Sayyaf bandits using the satellite camp.

"What happened was that the area has been vacated by the MNLF and there have been reports that the area, particular a camp in Mt. Tumatangis has been occupied by ASG (Abu Sayyaf Group) leaders under Parad, Dr. Abu and Sahiron," Bacarro said.

Ajibun and his men reportedly steered clear of the conflict when government forces launched the manhunt against Malik and his band for their unprovoked mortar attack in Panamao town on April 13.

Pabustan added the offensive also forced the Abu Sayyaf bandits to retreat towards the coastline.

In a related development, a senior military official who maintains close contact with MNLF leadership in Sulu bared yesterday the two weeks of fighting left Malik and another commander wounded.

According to National Capital Region Command chief Maj. Gen. Ben Dolorfino, Malik was hit in the foot while commander Tahil Sali, MNLF’s vice chairman for military affairs, was critically wounded in separate encounters.

"Malik was hit on the foot. Somebody (from the MNLF) informed me that he was wounded. Probably, that’s why there has been a lull (in the fighting in Sulu)," Dolorfino told reporters in Camp Aguinaldo.

Dolorfino, who had served as peace negotiator with the Muslim rebels, said the informant relayed to him that Sali was seriously wounded last week in an encounter with Army troops in Parang town while Malik got hit in Panamao.

A senior MNLF official, Jimmy Labawan denied before ANC cable news television that Malik is wounded.

Malik has been accused of helping the Abu Sayyaf in the past.

Other MNLF leaders, however, expressed their support for Malik.

The MNLF has complained that promises of autonomy and economic revival for the impoverished Muslim minority in the southern Philippines went unfulfilled.

"As of now, the rest of the MNLF command is not making any move to augment the forces of Malik because we feel that Malik can take care of the situation in Jolo and we don’t want the situation to escalate into an all-out war," MNLF spokesman Absalom Cerveza told ABS-CBN television.

The 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference, which helped broker the 1996 peace agreement between the MNLF and the government, has urged both sides to end the fighting.

But the government insisted its attacks are directed against Malik and his followers, not the MNLF as a whole. -with Jaime Laude, Sheila Francisco, Denise Limson, AP