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Monday, August 18, 2008
Moro rebels withdraw from Lanao villages; 24 dead
ILIGAN CITY (Updated, 4 p.m.) -- An Army official said hundreds of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels have withdrawn from Kolambugan and Kauswagan townships in Lanao del Norte leaving 24 civilians dead.
Brigadier General Hilario Atendido, commander of the military's Task Force Tabak, said the rebels under Commander Bravo pulled out from Kolambugan town around noontime, taking with them a number of adult men while freeing the children and women they earlier took as hostages.
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"They pulled out already of the area. They let go of the children and the women but took with them adult men," said Atendido who supervises military operations in the Lanao provinces.
"It's because our troops are there. They (rebels) cannot stay longer there. This is because of the military pressure in the area. They (rebels) left already, that is the report we got from our troops," Atendido said.
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Moro rebels attacked several southern coastal towns Monday, killing 24 civilians, burning houses and looting public markets in a sharp escalation of fighting amid uncertainty over a fragile peace process, officials said.
Brigadier General Antonio Supnet, head of an army brigade that drove away the rebels, said 20 civilians have been killed in Kauswagan and another four in neighboring Kolambugan. Police said the four were passengers whose buses were strafed by the rebels.
Supnet said more than 20 houses were burned in Kauswagan alone and hundreds of displaced have been streaming into evacuation centers in nearby Iligan city.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in a televised statement calls on Moro rebels to immediately withdraw from several southern townships they raided Monday, warning the military will crush them if they refuse.
Arroyo said she has ordered the Armed Forces and the police to defend every inch of Philippine territory against Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels, who entered the towns early in the morning and set houses on fire.
Military chief General Alexander Yano said government troops launched an offensive in response to the attack by about 300 MILF guerrillas on the towns of Kolambugan and Kauswagan in Lanao del Norte province early Monday.
"We cannot allow ambuscades, arson, kidnapping, hostage taking, blocking of main highways and other atrocities to be perpetrated ... against the Filipino people," he told reporters.
He blamed a local rebel commander for declaring "a virtual war against the duly constituted authority."
Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu confirmed the attack, but said it was carried out by a renegade commander, Abdullah Macapaar, also known as Bravo, and without the knowledge of the group's leadership.
Regional military spokesman Major Armand Rico said the rebels executed the leader of Libertad village in Kauswagan town. Government troops in armored vehicles fought the rebels in efforts to push them back into the hinterland, where they maintain camps. Local officials ordered the evacuation of residents from nearby communities to avoid casualties.
"These developments are clear manifestation of the insincerity about the peace process of a significant portion" of the rebel organization. Military operations will "go on until the perpetrators are punished and normalcy is established in the area," Yano said.
Kolambugan town is bounded by the Panguil Bay on the North, municipalities of Tangcal and Magsaysay on the South; the municipality of Maigo on the East; the municipality of Tubod on the West. (Bong Garcia, Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro/AP/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Manila. (August 18, 2008 issue)
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