Troops push drive vs Pentagon kidnap ring

ZAMBOANGA CITY — The military confirmed yesterday it only suffered one dead and five wounded soldiers in its three-day offensive against the kidnapping syndicate linked with the separatist rebels in Central Mindanao. This as troops continued its pursuit against the heavily armed Pentagon Kidnap Gang and its leader Tahir Alonto, the military said.

The military reported that there was no press combat contact between the two forces as the kidnap band and some of the separatist rebels who joined the encounter have been evading pursuing soldiers.

Armed Forces Southern Command chief Lt. Gen. Narciso Abaya said reports of the 6th Army Division whose soldiers figured in the Pentagon Kidnap gang said three of the bandits were killed while 15 others were wounded in the raging encounter that began Friday in the outskirts of Sultan sa Barongis, Maguindanao.

Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Spokesman Eid Kabalu reported 11 soldiers were killed. But this was immediately denied by the military citing that it can not hide its casualties.

"The respective families of victims (soldiers) were informed and we can not just hide the casualties," 6th ID spokesman Maj. Julieto Ando said.

At least three battalions of soldiers were deployed after the military assessed that Tahir Alonto, a former commander of the MILF and leader of the Pentagon Kidnap gang and more than 70 of his followers were spotted in sitio Lanton.

But the number of the kidnap band swelled to more than 300 as they were reinforced by the MILF guerillas that forced the military to utilize two MG-520 attack helicopter gunships.

Ando said that troops have already been alerted even before the break of Ramadan following the reports of the rebels massing up in Central Mindanao.

MILF chairman Hashim Salamat in his Ramadan message posted in a separate web page accused the military as the agitator of the hostility in Southern Philippines.

"The occupants of our homeland think that their military aggression and threats to brand us as terrorists they could break our will and morale as well as terrorize our people into submission. This is wishful thinking," according to the message of Salamat posted in the web page.