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Sunday, September 28, 2008
Military: Clashes kill 14 rebels, 1 soldier
DAVAO CITY -- At least 15 Moro rebels and New People's Army (NPA) members were killed n separate encounters with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in southern Philippines, a military official said Saturday.
Five rebels were killed while scores were wounded in an encounter between government troops and suspected members of the NPA in Tamayong, Calinan, Davao City Friday afternoon.
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An encounter in Maguindanao on Thursday also resulted to the death of nine Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels and one Army soldier.
Military reports said Task Force (TF) Davao personnel, along with policemen, responded to sitio Utan around 1 p.m. on Friday following reports that armed men were in the area.
The soldiers encountered the group of rebels under Front Committee 54 led by a certain Bobby.
The encounter resulted to the death of five rebels. Several others and PO1 Aris Dipia-o were also wounded.
Dipia-o was immediately extricated by helicopter and rushed to the Davao Medical Center. He is still undergoing medical treatment, and is said to be in critical condition for the gunshot wound he sustained.
Authorities recovered Garand rifles, one M16 rifle and subversive documents at the encounter site.
Hot pursuit operation against the rebels is ongoing as of this writing Saturday.
Also on Friday, suspected MILF rebels hit eight civilians, four of them children, when they attacked an Army detachment in a remote village in Datu Piang, Maguindanao, 6:30 p.m. Friday.
Colonel Marlou Salazar, commander of the Army's 601st brigade, said the villagers were taking their dinner when bullets allegedly fired at by marauding MILF rebels hit them in different parts of their bodies.
None of the victims, however, sustained serious injuries, said the Army colonel.
The attackers, which according to Salazar belonged to the lawless MILF group (LMG), harassed the temporary command post of the 54th Infantry Battalion at Sitio Nimao, Barangay Buayan in Datu Piang.
The attackers were positioned just 400 meters away from the military camp, he said, near the Linao creek in Barangay Buayan, which is occupied mostly by Maguindanao Moros.
"But instead of hitting their targets, the attackers hit the civilians living nearby," said Salazar.
The wounded villagers were immediately rushed to a hospital nearby, reports said.
An earlier encounter in Datu Piang with MILF rebels also claimed the lives of nine Moro rebels and an Army man.
Reports from the Eastern Mindanao Command showed that around 6 p.m. on Thursday, an encounter happened between the Army's 54th Infantry Battalion soldiers and about 50 lawless MILF group under Kumanders Wahid Tundok, Rambo, Pancho and Tulne of the MILF's 105th Base Command in Barangay Buayan, Datu Piang.
As a result, Corporal Jojo Guitting was killed while Senior Sergeant Erwin Grande was wounded. The military claimed to have killed nine lawless MILF rebels by sniper fires.
Government forces have been hunting three MILF commanders and hundreds of fighters allegedly behind deadly attacks on predominantly Christian communities last month in at least four southern provinces.
The rebel attacks were sparked by a deadlock in Malaysian-brokered peace talks.
The government said Tuesday it will ask the United Nations to blacklist 12 MILF rebels as terrorists for their role in last month's attacks on Christian areas.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the terror sanctions were not aimed at the entire rebel group, adding the government remains open to resuming stalled talks with the 11,000-strong guerrilla force once the clashes end. (BOT/Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star General Santos. (September 28, 2008 issue)
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