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Monday, August 18, 2008
7 killed, 12 wounded in ambush
MARAWI CITY -- Four soldiers and three militiamen were killed while 12 others were wounded in an ambush on a military convoy in Lanao del Sur Sunday morning, officials said.
Army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner said suspected Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas attacked the army convoy along the highway in Mulondo township in Lanao del Sur province.
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Colonel Rey Ardo, commander of the 103rd Infantry Brigade that oversees military operations in Lanao del Sur, told reporters that the convoy was on its way to the towns of Lumbatan and Lumbayanague to deliver allowances of Civilian Armed Auxiliaries (CAAs), the paramilitary members of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu), when waylaid by the rebels.
Ardo said the attackers could have been MILF guerrillas because they were using firearms with heavy calibers. The platoon-sized military convoy was outnumbered and outgunned.
He also said that most of those killed and wounded were elements of the 5th Infantry Battalion and the 12th CAA Company.
Killed were Corporal Oliva, SSgt. Mahilum, both of the 5IB; Pfc Janodin, 33IB; SSgt. Lastimosa; and CAAs Alex Cota, Suod Marimpong, and Sarip Rasol.
Wounded were Corporal Generoso Blanco, Pfc Gumahap, Corporal Villanocha, SSgt. Velasco, Corporal Acal, SSgt. Lagonaso, and Sgt. Danilo Yuraba, all of the 5IB; SSgt. Ricardo Jimenez and TSgt Maximo Ramiro of the Infantry Brigade; and CAAs Sarip Oding, Yusop Munder, and a certain Buriongan.
Senior Sergeant Florencio Dangaran, who was in the middle vehicle, meantime said the rebels numbering over a hundred fired rocket propelled grenades and machine guns at them.
"We could not even return fire as we just tended to the wounded," said the survivor, who was bloodied all over but not wounded.
Dangaran recalled that the enemy rained them with heavy fire for about 10 minutes before the rebels withdrew towards the mountain.
CAA Elias Macarambon, who was tending to his wounded comrade Yusoph Munder, corroborated Dangaran's observation, saying he heard two RPG explosions himself and a volley of caliber .50 machine gun fires.
"Maybe they knew we were coming. They were so many and well positioned by the roadside," he added.
Ardo vowed to launch massive pursuit operations against the rebels.
"We know there's a ceasefire but we could not let them get away with this," he said right after coming out of a command meeting with his officers.
"We have to do punitive actions," he added.
Last week, during the elections for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm), Colonel Ardo tried to prevent skirmishes with rebels and other armed elements by parading tanks and armored vehicles in various municipalities of Lanao del Sur as helicopters hovered in the sky.
However, Ardo admitted having difficulty pursuing the rebels in Molundo because some of them have merged with people in the community.
Meanwhile, rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu confirmed that the attackers were members of the 11,000-strong rebel organization but said he was checking what triggered the attack.
"They won't attack without any justifiable ground," Kabalu said, adding that the group maintains many strongholds in mountainous Lanao del Sur.
The guerrilla attack came four days after the government ended a massive three-day assault that dislodged about 1,000 rebels from 15 predominantly Christian farming villages they had seized in southern North Cotabato province, displacing about 80,000 people.
Despite the rebel pullout from North Cotabato, military chief General Alexander Yano said last week that security in the southern Mindanao region remained "volatile and fluid."
Yano said the rebels could be bracing to launch attacks in other areas of Mindanao. (Bobby Timonera/Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Manila. (August 18, 2008 issue)
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