3,000 Basilan folk flee homes amid MILF-Sayyaf attack reports

ZAMBOANGA CITY – More than 3,000 residents in at least 13 villages in four remote towns in Basilan have fled their homes amid reports that combined forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Abu Sayyaf would intensify their attacks on government and civilian positions, authorities said.

Basilan Vice Gov. Al-Rasheed Sakalahul quoted the provincial social welfare office as identifying the affected towns as Tuburan, Al-Barka, Maluso and Tipo-Tipo, where Abu Sayyaf and MILF rebels operate.

Sakalahul said they have provided the displaced civilians with relief assistance.

Lt. Gen. Nelson Allaga, chief of the Armed Forces’ Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom), has directed the Marines to continue without let-up their operations against the MILF and Abu Sayyaf forces, which he blamed for the kidnappings and the latest spate of attacks on government troops.

1Lt. Steffani Cacho, Westmincom spokesman, said Allaga issued the order when he visited two wounded pro-government militiamen at the Camp Navarro General Hospital here.

The wounded CAFGU Active Auxiliary members, Ustaran Sabdain and Awal Tabuggah, recounted to Allaga how combined forces of the MILF and Abu Sayyaf, some of them wearing masks, attacked their detachments in Cabangalan and Lagayas in Tipo-Tipo town.

Allaga, however, reminded the government troops to avoid the displacement of civilians in their operations, Cacho said.

“As much as possible minimize the displacement of civilians,” he quoted Allaga as saying.

The military said skirmishes have temporarily stopped as the Abu Sayyaf and MILF rebels withdrew toward Tipo-Tipo and Al-Barka towns.

However, tension has mounted in the four Basilan towns amid reports that the MILF and Abu Sayyaf would escalate their attacks.

MILF leaders in Basilan led by Hamsa Sapanton and Satar Ali, however, dismissed the reports, saying their forces where only forced to fight back, as the government troops encroached into their areas and fired at their followers.