Saturday, August 16, 2008 1 dead, 5 wounded in Army, MILF clash By Malu Cadelina Manar
KIDAPAWAN CITY -- One was killed while five others were wounded when government troops and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) traded bullets and mortars Sunday in Pikit, North Cotabato, according to an Oblate missionary assigned in the area.
Fr. Eduardo Vazquez of the Inter-Religious Dialogue (IRD) of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) said one government soldier was killed and three others were wounded after army and MILF rebels clashed around 5:30 a.m. Sunday.
The clashed also wounded two civilians who were fleeing their village.
The incident occurred a day before the automated elections in the nearby Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm).
At least 12,000 individuals from the villages in Pagangan, Dualing, Tapudok; Dungguan in Aleosan; and Culambog in Pikit evacuated to nearby villages of Ginatilan and Poblacion in Pikit, Fr. Vasquez said.
Vasquez said the wounded soldiers were first treated at the Cruzado Medical Hospital in Pikit and later sent to the division headquarters of the Army's 6th Infantry Division in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Shariff Kabungsuan.
The wounded soldiers, identified as Pvt. Salman Bantas, Cpl. Carbilo Tabanes, and Pfc. Jennes Frenilla, all from the Army's 7th Infantry Battalion of the 602nd Brigade, were sent to the remotest villages in Aleosan town to secure villagers while the MILF rebels were withdrawing from the area, Vasquez said.
The priest failed to identify the dead soldier.
A 10-year-old girl identified as Naima Lakim, one of the many evacuees from Barangay Tapudok in Aleosan, was hit by a military truck while fleeing from the area at the height of the mortar shelling.
According to Vasquez, the vehicle was carrying wounded soldiers and was on its way to Cotabato City when it hit the girl.
Another 19-year-old student, identified as Robert Malagia dela Pena, was hit on his left foot by a stray bullet, he said.
At least five mortars landed in Barangay Culambog and nearby areas since 5:30 a.m., he added.
"We felt the ground move after each mortar shelling," he said.
Vasquez said the evacuees are housed temporarily at the parish gym of the Immaculate Concepcion Cathedral in Pikit, some are in schools, while others set up camps along the highway.
"They have no food, no extra clothes to wear, beddings, and others. They just carried themselves and fled on foot from their village to Pikit," said Vasquez.
The AFP-MILF clash erupted a day before the holding of the automated elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm).
Pikit and Aleosan towns are next to Datu Montawal and Pagalungan towns in the northern part of Maguindanao, while Tulunan is adjacent to Buldon and Datu Paglas towns, in Maguindanao's eastern side.
Despite the fighting, election officials in Maguindanao said the automated polls would go on as scheduled.
