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Friday, November 11, 2005
Gunmen attack gov't ceasefire team
By Al Jacinto
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Gunmen attacked Thursday a group belonging to the government ceasefire team negotiating peace with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels in the Province of Lanao del Sur, officials said.
One soldier was wounded in the ensuing gun battle in the town of Pualas, said Brigadier General Mohamad bin Dolorfino, head of the government's ad hoc joint action group. "One soldier was slightly wounded in the firefight," he said.
The government team was in a van and headed for a meeting with MILF rebels when a group of gunmen, on board a private vehicle, overtook them on a highway in Pualas town, and tried to stop their vehicle. "The gunmen opened fire on the soldiers, triggering a gun battle," Dolorfino said.
Dolorfino said the gunmen retreated later. "It was not immediately known if they suffered casualties," he said.
He said they were investigating the motive of the attack, but latest military reports suggested the soldiers had been mistaken for a town mayor and his men in the province. The mayor previously owned the van the team was using.
The mayor was allegedly involved in a bloody feud with the attackers, the report said.
"The soldiers may have been mistaken as the group of the mayor because they were driving the van," Dolorfino said, adding the vehicle was recently sold by the politician to the soldiers.
Dolorfino said some of the attackers have already been identified. Dolorfino said the MILF has nothing to do with the attack, but the town is a known rebel stronghold in the south.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo opened peace talks with the MILF in 2001 and later signed a ceasefire agreement, in an effort to end more than three decades of hostilities in the south.
The MILF is fighting for a separate Muslim homeland in the mineral-rich, but troubled region. (Sun.Star Zamboanga/Sunnex)
(November 11, 2005 issue)
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