Troops repulse MILF attack, kill 7 rebels

MANILA, Philippines – Seven suspected members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) were killed when they attacked and tried to overrun an Army patrol base in Guindulungan, Maguindanao the other day, the military said yesterday.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Ponce, spokesman for the 6th Infantry Division in Awang, Maguindanao, said they were verifying reports that several of those killed were key MILF commanders of the 105th Base Command under Ameril Umbra Kato.

Fighting broke out about 10 p.m. Thursday when around 30 rebels, led by Wahid Tondok, attacked the temporary base of the 46th Infantry Battalion at Barangay Macasampen in Guidulongan.

Ponce said government troops manning battle positions inflicted heavy casualties on the MILF force.

“The firefight lasted 13 minutes, leaving seven enemies killed and scores wounded,” he said. No soldier was wounded in the attack.

Two bodies of the seven slain MILF rebels were recovered by the troops, while their comrades dragged the others as they escaped, Ponce said.

AFP to send elite forces to Sulu

The Armed Forces of the Philippines is planning to send elite Army Scout Rangers and Special Forces troopers to Sulu to help in the rescue of Italian Red Cross worker Eugenio Vagni still held captive by the Abu Sayyaf group.

AFP chief Gen. Victor Ibrado said the move would be done “eventually” as there are sufficient forces on the ground in western Mindanao at present.

Last May 27, a troop augmentation was sent to Basilan to help in military operations against the MILF, Abu Sayyaf, and other bandits.

Ibrado said the latest information about Vagni, the last of the three International Committee of the Red Cross members who were abducted in Patikul town in Sulu five months ago, is that he is still alive and is being transferred to safehouses to avoid detection by government troops.

“He was separated from the group of Albader Parad, who figured in encounters with our forces recently,” he said.

Marine commandant Maj. Gen. Ben Dolorfino said he had ordered ground commanders, particularly those engaged in the campaign against the Abu Sayyaf group in Sulu, following the death of several soldiers in fierce clashes with bandits holding Vagni.

“I have instructed them to ensure a 50 percent casualty rate on the Abu Sayyaf in every encounter, that’s why they have to modify the way they fight the Abu Sayyaf,” Dolorfino said.

He did not elaborate on the new strategy, but said it is up to the ground commanders to formulate new ways of dealing with the bandit group.

“If you continue fighting in the same way that you have been doing for the past several years, chances are you are being patterned by the enemy, and in this war, that’s one thing we cannot afford to happen,” he said.

The military said troops were closing in on Vagni’s captors as indicated by the continuous armed engagements between government forces and the bandits. – With James Mananghaya