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Wednesday, May 14, 2003
Suspected Moro rebels rob, burn bus in western Mindanao (12:37 pm)
PAGADIAN -- Suspected Moro separatist rebels on Wednesday robbed local officials after stopping their bus and then set the vehicle on fire.
The incident came a day after a warning by President Arroyo that the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) must disavow terrorism and stop attacking civilians or they would be branded as terrorists.
A local army commander said seven armed men believed to be MILF members stopped the chartered bus carrying the district officials to a legal seminar as it was passing through the coastal town of Dinas near Pagadian City.
The armed men forced the passengers to disembark, took their money and valuables and then set the bus on fire and fled on a motorboat, Colonel Ignacio Obligacion said.
MILF spokesmen could not be immediately contacted for comment. In the past, however, the rebels have denied they intentionally attack civilians.
Arroyo on Tuesday said the MILF had until June 1 to cease attacks on civilians and cut off links with the local Abu Sayyaf kidnap group and foreign Islamic militant organizations, including Jemaah Islamiyah and al-Qaeda.
If they failed to heed this ultimatum, the 12,500-strong rebel group would be treated as terrorists, Arroyo said.
The MILF has been waging a 25-year rebellion to set up an Islamic state in Mindanao.
Nearly a hundred people have been killed in an upsurge in MILF attacks since March. AFP
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