Kato followers attack Del Monte plant in NCotabato town

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines - Followers of Imam Ameril Ombra Kato attacked past 8 a.m. Tuesday a multi-national banana plantation in Tulunan town, provoking gunfights with guards and militiamen that sent villagers running for their lives.

Inspector Rolando Dillera, chief of the Tulunan municipal police, said the hostilities at the northwestern part of the Cavendish banana farm of the Del Monte Philippines in Barangay Dungos broke out when the bandits, led by Sukarno Husain and Burudi Sultan, fired assault rifles and 40 MM shoulder-fire grenades at security guards.

Hussain and Sultan, both wanted for various offenses, including highway robberies, multiple murders, and cattle theft, are henchmen of Kato, founder of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

Dillera said the plantation guards, although outnumbered, managed to outflank the bandits, forcing the latter to retreat to a swampy area north of  the banana farm after a 30-minute running gunfight.

Another group of bandits engaged in a brief firefight responding policemen from the Tulunan municipal police office and from nearby Mlang town.

Local officials said the bandits scampered away,  bringing four wounded companions as more  policemen and soldiers arrived to help drive them away.

Dillera is convinced the attack was a ploy to divert the attention of authorities now busy with tactical maneuvers aimed at flushing out BIFF bandits from Midsayap town in the first district of the province, which came under attack Monday.  - John Unson