Saturday, August 14, 2004 Army attacks kidnappers' lair, says 17 killed
CAMP LUCERO, Carmen, North Cotabato -- The military attacked Friday morning the Liguasan Marsh in Maguindanao and claimed to have killed 17 members of Tahir Alonto's kidnap-for-ransom gang.
"Target hit. Objective destroyed," Gen. Raul Relano, chief of the Army's 6th Infantry Battalion, said of the operation, but assured residents in the area that the military operations would not dislocate them.
Army units initiated heavy bombardment on the suspected hideout of kidnap gang leader Alonto along the Liguasan Marsh, a known stronghold of the rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Assault leaders reported that 17 members of the Pentagon gang were killed in the firefight that followed, Relano said. There were no casualties reported on the government side.
Brig. Gen. Agustin Demaala of the 604th Infantry Brigade said their strike operations started at around 6:30 a.m. Friday. The attack was launched by a composite team of the PNP-SAF, Marines, Army's Special Forces and the 66th Infantry Battalion and aided by air strikes courtesy of the Air Force.
Demaala said the objective of the strike operation is to neutralize Alonto and his group, pre-empt kidnapping activities and remove a hindrance to the peace talks between the government and the separatist group MILF.
Southern military chief Lieutenant General Generoso Senga stressed that the operation was a law-enforcement drive and not meant to break a year-old ceasefire with the separatist guerrillas.
"This is not targeted against the MILF. We are abiding by the ceasefire."
President Arroyo is seeking to convince the MILF to return to the negotiating table after extracting a public commitment from its leaders to reject terrorism and acts of banditry.
Ralano described the operations in the marsh, which is part of the General Salipada K. Pendatun town, as "intensive", saying the military wanted to topple the kidnappers, believed to be holding two victims.
"What we are doing is surgical operation -- the pinpointed target is the real target," he said.
The military pounded the area with bombs using two helicopters and they also deployed a company of soldiers on the ground.
The area is a known MILF stronghold but the official said the rebel group had been informed about their operation to avoid possible conflict and a breakdown of the ceasefire being observed by the government and the MILF.
He said they have sent notice to the government's representative to the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) who in turn coordinated with his counterpart in the MILF.
The committee makes sure that all agreements, including the ceasefire signed by the government and MILF, are not violated. If some of these agreements are violated, the committee is tasked to correct the violation.
"The apprehension that the operation will conflagrate with the MILF is remote," Relano stressed, but said he could not immediately give details about the result of their operations.
Another reason for their coordination, Relano said, was because they would like to avoid the displacement of civilians.
He, however, said that their target was located somewhere at the middle of the marsh, which is uninhabited.
Some members of the Bantay Ceasefire, a group formed by the Mindanao People's Caucus, whose task is to monitor peace conditions of conflict areas in Mindanao, noted that already some civilians have been displaced because of the military operations in the area.
They also noted that a house and a mosque were hit by bombs. (Ben O. Tesiorna/ Jeff M. Tupas/With AFP)
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