MILF rebels harassing Army positions in Maguindanao town

DATU PIANG, Maguindanao — Marauding guerrillas of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have been harassing Army positions around this town since Sunday, assaulting detachments with B-40 rockets and machinegun fire in one clandestine attack after another.

At dawn Monday, rebels also pounded with mortars the farming village of Sebastian in nearby Shariff Aguak town, seriously wounding nine Muslim villagers.

Maj. Julieto Ando, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said elements of the 57th Infantry Battalion here have been using only "minimal fire" in repelling the rebel attacks.

"Just enough to prevent them from closing in. This is somehow in keeping with the ceasefire which these rebels have been violating," Ando said.

Eid Kabalu, MILF spokesman, has confirmed that there have been rebel maneuvers around this town since Sunday, but clarified that they were part of their efforts to defend their lairs here and in nearby Midsayap, North Cotabato from alleged continuing encroachments by militiamen and soldiers.

Local officials said four rebels have been killed since Sunday, two of them identified with the group responsible for the ambush of Maguindanao Gov. Datu Andal Ampatuan in Shariff Aguak town last August.

Ampatuan survived the ambush, the third attempt on his life since April, but five of his security escorts, two of them soldiers, were wounded.

The military-rebel skirmishes here were preceded by last Saturday’s bomb attack on the public market of Shariff Aguak that injured two Muslim bystanders, identified as Gubanaya Kamsad and Datu Ali Faida.

Three of the mortars the rebels fired in Barangay Sebastian exploded on the roofs of two adjoining houses owned by the Alamada family, leaving nine of its members, seven of them children, seriously wounded.

Omar Macabangen, provincial information officer, said the victims were asleep when the gunmen, positioned on a hill nearby, fired mortars and M-79 grenades.

"The incident forced dozens of families to evacuate, fearing that the shelling will be repeated," Macabangen said.