MILF rebels attack Army base

CAMP CATITIPAN, Davao City – Government security forces were in pursuit of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels who attacked an Army patrol base in Aleosan, North Cotabato yesterday morning.

Maj. Armand Rico, spokesman of the Armed Forces Eastern Mindanao Command, said the separatist guerrillas belonging to the MILF’s 105th Base Command tried to overrun forward positions of the Army’s 40th Infantry Battalion in Sitio Tubak, Barangay Pagangan II.

“Our patrol base was attacked but the rebels backed off after the troops put up a gallant stand,” Rico said.

Barangay Pagangan was among the 15 villages in North Cotabato that MILF rebels led by Commander Ameril Ombra Kato occupied last August, triggering almost two weeks of intense fighting.

Rico said several rebels were wounded in yesterday’s firefight.

“An Army team from the Bravo Company is now conducting hot pursuit operations,” he said.

Inspector Orlando Panzo, Aleosan police chief, said yesterday’s attack was apparently meant to test the combat readiness of MILF rebels.

In Maguindanao, meanwhile, 40 MILF rebels led by Commander Wahid Tundok attacked an Army detachment in Datu Pagatin, Datu Saudi Ampatuan town last Wednesday afternoon.

After 30 minutes of fighting, the rebels withdrew, leaving S/Sgt. Josefino Sentillar wounded, Rico said.

In Sarangani, seven suspected MILF guerrillas and a former Army soldier who had gone AWOL (absent without official leave) since 2004 were arrested while they were trying to pass through a military checkpoint in Barangay Tambilil, Kiamba town yesterday.

Rico said the seven suspected rebels initially claimed to be Moro National Liberation Front members, but authorities became suspicious since no one in the village knew them.        – With Edith Regalado