Military, civilians foil arson in Maguindanao

CAMP SIONGCO, Maguindanao — Marauding rebels yesterday attempted to burn a house of a member of Maguindanao’s provincial board, whose clan is at odds with commanders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

However, combined militiamen and civilian volunteers repelled the MILF rebels led by Commander Abdulwahid Tanduk with B-40 rockets and shoulder-fire 40 MM grenades in a 10-minute firefight.

As the rebels retreated from the house of Datu Wata Adzis in Datu Saudi Ampatuan town in the second district of Maguindanao, they left behind plastic containers filled with kerosene and unlit torches.

Tanduk and his men had earlier burned 30 houses, one of them also owned by Adzis, in an attack in Barangay Salvo, also in Datu Saudi Ampatuan, at the height of the military’s pacification campaign in Pikit, North Cotabato last February.

Catholic station DxMS based in Cotabato City yesterday quoted MILF’s spokesman, Eid Kabalu, as saying that the front’s central committee would not intervene in the ensuing hostilities in Datu Saudi Ampatuan since the conflict stems from a long time rido or clan war involving rebel commanders and influential political families.

The Army’s 6th Infantry Division said it has started documenting the spate of rebel attacks in Datu Saudi Ampatuan in preparation for the filing of a formal complaint against the MILF for violation of the ceasefire agreement. — John Unson