Maguindanao folk fear MNLF-MILF showdown

COTABATO CITY — Residents of Barira, Maguindanao are bracing for a possible showdown of local forces of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which have been accusing each other of staging last Thursday’s ambush of a military team which left three soldiers dead.

Indar Karudin, leader of the MNLF’s Special Operation Group in Barira, said he has asked the Army’s 6th Infantry Division and the 3rd Marine Brigade to determine the real identities of the ambushers to belie the MILF’s allegation that his followers were behind the atrocity.

Karudin said it was unlikely for MNLF members to commit such an offense, knowing it can imperil the multimillion-peso livelihood projects which foreign donors are carrying out in their communities.

Eid Kabalu, MILF spokesman, earlier had accused local MNLF forces of being responsible for the ambush, which claimed the lives of an Army lieutenant and two enlisted personnel of the 64th Infantry Battalion.

The 6th IB, whose units are scattered in Barira and communities inside Camp Abubakar, the MILF’s former enclave, is involved in the rehabilitation of farming villages affected by last year’s hostilities between military and Moro rebel forces.

Army intelligence sources are eyeing the involvement of the MNLF’s "muta’allah force," composed of loyal followers of ousted MNLF chief Nur Misuari, in the ambush.

"Sabotage is very possible because 90 percent of MNLF forces there now recognize the ‘Council of 15’ as the sole central governing body of the MNLF," said a junior military officer.

The council is composed of key MNLF members, among them Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema and Sulu Gov. Yusoph Jikiri, who ousted Misuari last April due to what they claimed was loss of trust and confidence in his leadership.

Sema said he has sent emissaries to Barira and to the MILF central committee to discuss the issue and formulate measures to defuse the tension.

Last month, the MILF and the MNLF forged a solidarity pact in Malaysia. — John Unson