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Saturday, July 08, 2006
Grenade thrown at guv's house; security tightened
By Al Jacinto
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Police tightened security in Cotabato City following a failed grenade attack Friday on a bungalow owned by the governor of Maguindanao province.
The failed attack came a day before the scheduled Saturday visit of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in Cotabato City where she is expected to hold her Cabinet meeting, local government officials said.
Police said the target of the failed attack was Governor Andal Ampatuan, but the politician was not in his house when an unidentified man tossed the grenade inside the compound. The assailant escaped on a motorcycle, said Senior Inspector Samson Obatay, head of a local elite police unit.
"We have deployed additional police forces and tightened security to prevent similar attempt on the lives of government officials. We have undertaken extra security measures, put up road blocks and more foot patrol in Cotabato City," Obatay said.
Ampatuan also escaped an assassination attempt on June 23 when a bomb exploded near his convoy in Shariff Aguak town, but five people were killed in the attack, including the governor's nephew.
It was not immediately known whether the failed grenade attack was connected to Wednesday killing of the wife of one of two senior Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) leaders tagged as behind the Shariff Aguak bombing.
The military said Nora Pakiladato was gunned down in Cotabato City. The woman was the wife of Zaid Pakiladato, deputy chief of the MILF's 105th Base Command in Camp Omar in Shariff Aguak town in Maguindanao, where rebel and militiamen allegedly loyal to Ampatuan clashed for about a week.
The woman was shot inside her van in the busy business district of Cotabato, said Eid Kabalu, the MILF spokesman. He said the woman's family blamed the killing on the skirmishes in Shariff Aguak. The killing came just hours after Zaid denied in a local radio interview any involvement in the bombing in Shariff Aguak town.
The bombing also wounded 14 people, and police and military blamed Pakiladato and Jamil Ombra, commander of the MILF 105th Base Command, as behind the attack. The target of the bombing was allegedly the governor.
Kabalu said militiamen executed three captured rebels in Shariff Aguak town. He said Ampatuan's militia was behind simultaneous attacks on major MILF headquarters Camp Omar in the town in retaliation for the bombing.
Ampatuan, a former rebel leader of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), escaped unhurt, but the bombing killed his nephew. Police ordered the arrest of Ombra and Pakiladato, but the MILF denied the accusations and refused to surrender the duo.
Dozens of militiamen and rebels were killed and wounded in the fighting, Kabalu said.
The MILF, the country's largest Muslim rebel group, is currently negotiating peace with Manila. Arroyo has ordered the military to work closely with the Coordinating Committee for the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) and the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT) to maintain peace and order in Maguindanao.
Arroyo also instructed the military to work closely with government relief agencies and the local governments to address the plight of thousands of Muslim evacuees and ensure their safe return to their homes. Government spokespersons said the fighting between the rebels and militia was an isolated case and had not affected the current peace talks.
Similar fighting also erupted in February in Shariff Aguak and left more than a dozen militia and rebels dead. The fighting broke out after the MILF opposed a provincial government road construction that rebels claimed would encroach into their territories in the village of Datu Unsay.
Kabalu said guns fell silent on Friday after rebels and militia agreed to an informal truce, but negotiations still continue to prevent future clashes in Shariff Aguak. He said government negotiators led by Secretary Jesus Dureza, presidential peace adviser, met separately with MILF leaders and Ampatuan's group to further discuss a permanent ceasefire between rebels and militia.
"There is a temporary ceasefire in Maguindanao and we are still discussing the possible declaration of a peace zone in Shariff Aguak and prevent future fighting," Kabalu said.
The MILF previously warned that the fighting could escalate and affect the peace talks if militiamen continue attacking rebel forces. (Sunnex)
(July 8, 2006 issue)
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