House-to-house search for rebels; charges readied

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Government troops started a house-to-house search for the gunmen of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)-Misuari faction in retaking some of the villages occupied by rebels after 10 days of fighting.

As troops began the search for the rebels, three soldiers were killed and two others were wounded during the assault on a building in barangay Sta. Barbara.

A suspected MNLF sniper was shot down and his companion wounded during the assault that began late Tuesday.

The troops began their assault on the KBK building, a three-storey concrete structure believed to have been the command post of MNLF commander Habier Malik.

Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II said government forces are now entering a sensitive and dangerous phase of their operation in flushing out the rebels.

He said the MNLF-Misuari faction is still occupying several areas of Sta. Catalina and Sta. Barbara and nearby villages.

Roxas said government forces have already trapped the rebels, whom he called “invaders.”

“We have already trapped the invaders. We have already limited their area of operations,” he said.

According to Roxas, the area of operation is about three to seven hectares of houses and residential buildings that are separated by narrow alleys.

“Our forces are doing the house to house, block to block clearing operation to assure there are no more culprits, bombs or booby traps planted by the rebels,” Roxas said.

Philippine National Police (PNP) Deputy Director General Felipe Roxas said they have deployed bomb-sniffing dogs to check out the houses and buildings for booby traps and explosives.

He added policemen have been ordered to secure the houses and buildings against looters.

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Brig. Gen. Domingo Tutaan Jr. said there are still pockets of resistance in Sta. Barbara and Sta. Catalina where the troops are conducting clearing operations.

Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala, the designated spokesman for the military’s ground operations here, said troops are under orders to maintain “calibrated and calculated” response against the rebels who are still holding out in the remaining villages.

Zagala said the troops have started driving out the rebels with waning resistance.

“We are now heading towards the clearing phase with lesser resistance on the ground,” he said.

The three latest fatalities incurred by the military brought to 11 the total number of soldiers killed, with 105 others wounded. The PNP also lost three of its men, with 12 others wounded in action.

Seven civilians who were caught in the crossfire, most of them children, died in the fighting while 67 were wounded.

The rebels sustained 83 dead, 67 wounded and 93 were either captured or have surrendered, officials said.

This does not include a suspected rebel who was killed by troops as he tried to slip out of the military dragnet in Sta. Barbara yesterday.

Lt. Col. Johnson Jemar Aseron, commander of the Army’s 32nd Infantry Battalion, said his men are maintaining the security cordon covering the areas of barangays Sta. Catalina to Sta. Barbara.

He said there were still a number of rebels who broke away from the main group and tried to slip out by merging with the fleeing civilians.

Aseron said there were some buildings where a number of rebels are still holding out. He said the rebels were just waiting for the opportunity to fire on approaching troops in the open.

Aseron added the slain sniper appeared to be emaciated and barefoot.

“We believed that this slain rebel was sent to do probing also to find out if there (are) soldiers in the area,” Aseron said.

Troops retrieved two decomposing bodies of rebels in a building in Sta. Barbara, while two other bodies were discovered in Kansanyangan village by Marines during the clearing operations.

Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc, chief of the Armed Forces 7th Civil Relations Group, said troops recovered several high-powered firearms in their clearing operations in Sta. Catalina.

Among the firearms recovered were an AK 47, a USM1 rifle, a US M14 rifle, and a .45 caliber pistol.

“They were left behind by those who tried to flee the security cordon after a one-hour encounter with our forces,” Cabunoc said.

“With these at hand, we can say that their forces are now low on ammunition and supply, and our forces are now constricting their movements,” he added.

Tutaan added the strength of the Misuari group is now less than 100 after 23 of them surrendered to Zamboanga police chief Senior Superintendent Jose Chiquito Malayo last Tuesday. –  Jaime Laude, Aurea Calica, Alexis Romero, Cecille Suerte Felipe, John Unson