Army engineer slain, 8 other soldiers hurt in MILF ambush

COTABATO CITY — An Army engineer was killed and eight other soldiers, among them a junior officer, were wounded when Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels ambushed them at Camp Abubakar in Matanog, Maguindanao yesterday morning.

The soldiers, all belonging to the Army’s 514th Engineering Battalion, were on their way to a mosque to beautify it for today’s celebration of Eid’l Adha, which marks the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, when they were waylaid.

This developed as thousands of government troops have amassed near an MILF stronghold at the North Cotabato-Maguindanao border, triggering the flight of villagers amid fears the military was poised to attack rebels allegedly sheltering members of the Pentagon kidnap-for-ransom gang.

The MILF claimed responsibility for the ambush in a telephone call to local radio station dxMS.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu claimed the rebels killed three soldiers. But Col. Eduardo Lena, commander of the 54th Engineering Brigade, said only one was killed, whom he identified as Sgt. Fred Ligonos.

"They were unarmed and were only bringing with them carpentry tools, brooms and bolos they were supposed to use in cleaning up the surroundings of the worship sites inside Camp Abubakar," Lena said.

The eight wounded were identified as Capt. Meliton Reyes, Sergeants Bernardino Romasanta, Jose Querubin and Julie Perez, and Pfcs. Eric Asuncion, Severino Roida, George Calatan and Jose Palma.

The soldiers are building roads and other infrastructure at Camp Abubakar, a former MILF enclave that was overrun in a military offensive in 2000.

Meanwhile, about 2,000 Marines and Army troops were deployed over the weekend to the Liguasan Marsh bordering North Cotabato and Maguindanao for an assault against MILF hideouts where suspected kidnappers have been spotted, said Army Col. Carduzo Luna.

The heightened tension has threatened a shaky ceasefire and efforts to resume peace talks between the government and the MILF, which has been waging a separatist insurrection in the country’s impoverished south since the 1970s.

Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes said the soldiers could attack anytime to get the suspected criminals, including some who were linked to the bombing in Datu Piang, Maguindanao last December, and to seize any rebel camps.

"We’re going to assault that area," he told reporters in Manila. "Lawless elements, after committing their dastardly act, seek refuge in these camps so we have to overrun these camps."

In some villages on the outskirts of North Cotabato’s Pikit town, the soldiers were facing the guerrillas "eyeball to eyeball" and fighting could erupt anytime, Luna said. He accused the guerrillas of harboring members of the notorious kidnap gang Pentagon, which is on a US terrorist list.

He claimed that 1,500 to 2,000 guerrillas, along with Pentagon members, were bracing for battle, and alleged that the rebels have asked their relatives to evacuate to safer areas to avoid getting caught in a crossfire.

Bert Layson, a Roman Catholic priest, said up to 20,000 villagers have sought shelter in a school, a government rice warehouse and a gymnasium in Pikit. — John Unson, Mike Frialde, Roel Pareño