13 MILF rebels killed in Maguindanao clash

MANILA, Philippines – At least 13 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels were killed and four others wounded in a clash with troops between the towns of Mamasapano and Datu Saudi Ampatuan in Maguindanao.

Five soldiers were wounded in the fighting.

Maj. Randolph Cabangbang, Armed Forces Eastern Mindanao Command spokesman, identified seven of the slain rebels as Alimudin Guiar, Ali Saguia, Moen Tundok, Rafi Wahab, Aladin Usman, Mastura Usman, and Musa Animbang.

The wounded MILF fighters are Marcos Benito, Hamad Benito, Antoling Salik and Omar Guiar, he added.

Meanwhile, six battalions of troops have separated fugitive MILF commander Abdurahman Macapaar alias Commander Bravo and his men from other rebel forces in the Lanao provinces.

The soldiers have sealed off all exit and entry routes in the area to isolate Bravo and his men from sympathetic MILF commanders, according to Col. Rey Ardo, Army’s 103th Brigade commander based in Camp Ranao, Lanao del Sur.

“They are just out there, playing around, but we have already surrounded them,” he said, pointing to mountainous boundary of the two Lanao provinces.

Ardo said Bravo’s capture is already imminent as troops would pounce on him and his men in a couple of days.

Troops were able to pinpoint Bravo’s location after he gave a media interview recently to ridicule the military, he added.

Ardo said inclement weather is preventing troops from launching the final assault on Bravo’s jungle redoubt.   – With Jaime Laude