MILF raps North Cotabato gov

COTABATO CITY — The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has blamed North Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel Piñol for the inclusion of its chieftain, Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim, in the criminal complaint filed by the police last Tuesday in connection with the Oct. 10 bombing in Makilala, North Cotabato.

Muhammad Ameen, secretariat chief of the MILF’s central committee, said they are convinced that Piñol, who earlier had blamed the front for the attack, instigated Murad’s inclusion in the multiple murder charges which the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in North Cotabato filed with the Kidapawan City prosecutor’s office.

"It is a big lie," Ameen said of the criminal complaint, which detailed how Murad allegedly connived with the suspected bombers, among them Indonesian-born terrorists Dulmatin and Omar Patek, and their Maguindanaon cohort, Abdulbasit Usman.

Piñol is known for his iron-fisted stance against lawless elements.

Eid Kabalu, MILF spokesman, said the front’s peace panel has asked the joint ceasefire committee and the Ad-Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG) to work out the dropping of Murad’s name from the complaint, warning that it could imperil the ongoing peace talks.

The AHJAG, composed of representatives of the MILF, the police and military, helps the ceasefire committee interdict criminals and terrorists in areas covered by the ceasefire.

Ameen said it was "illogical" for Murad, the MILF’s highest official, to personally oversee the fabrication of the explosives used in the Makilala bombing in the front’s Camp Usman Ibni Khattab in Carmen, North Cotabato.

Six people were killed while 32 others were wounded in the Makilala attack, which occurred while the town was celebrating its 52nd founding anniversary.

Ameen said Murad, being so "security-conscious," would not travel from one area to another to help plot a terror attack.

Ameen also dismissed as "another big lie" the inclusion of Hadji Ahmad Bayam, a former official of the Moro National Liberation Front, among the bombing suspects.

According to Ameen, the MILF is not convinced that Bayam, who he said once worked in the office of Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, could have also taken part in the bombing.

The CIDG also tagged two MILF commanders and a dozen others, some identified only through aliases, in the attack.

Piñol earlier said police found at the blast scene the SIM card of the mobile phone used in detonating the improvised explosive fashioned from a live mortar shell.

The SIM card, according to Piñol, contained sensitive messages about the bombing plot and the phone numbers of the perpetrators.