Big Army Formation Attack MILF Forces İn Maguindanao Town

One thousand Philippine Army troops attacked the freedom fighters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (BIAF-MILF) yesterday, November 16, at 5:00 pm at Barangay Mungkas, Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao. Army soldiers from the 64th IB, 75th IB, 68th IB and 46th IB were involved in the attacked against the fighters not only belonging to the 105th Base Command, BIAF–MILF under Ustadz Umbra Kato but also involving other units of the MILF which have presence in said area. Firefight lasted until 7pm, leaving five (5) MILF fighters wounded and 16 army soldiers killed or wounded.

The government armed forces have been attacking the entire MILF forces contrary to government claim that it is only targeting the 105th Base Command, which analyst described as an undeclared all-out offensive against the MILF under the pretext of “selective police-military actions.”

Scores of mortar and artillery shelling were fired indiscriminately by the Philippine Army hitting nothing but the farmlands and abandoned civilian communities in Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Shariff Aguak and Mamasapano, all of Maguindanao.

A luwaran reporter embedded with the MILF mujahideen described the fighting as so far the fiercest and bloody since the government had asked evacuees to return to their places of origin more than a week ago.

He said more than 300 seasoned MILF fighters were involved in the fighting, which is a ratio of 3-10 against.

But he said the great imbalance in term of number and firepower, the MILF is making up for them in term of their willingness to die, knowledge of terrain, and the commitment to their cause they are fighting for.

Thousands of displaced civilians refused to heed call by the government to return to their respective communities due to fear of being caught in the crossfire. Recently, an unexploded mortar bomb blasted when a water carabao step on it in a farm lot in Datu Saudi Ampatuan. An old man was seriously wounded by the explosion.

Unexploded ordnance cropped up as serious worry among the civilians whose residents and farms were heavily pounded by the thousands of mortar and artillery shells fired by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

A member of a non-government organization (NGO), who told Luwaran on condition of anonymity, called on the Geneva Call and the Philippine Campaign to Ban Landmines (PCBL) to initiate an inquiry into these unexploded ordnances, which are potential landmines to civilians.

He said artillery or mortar bombs are more lethal than anti-personnel landmines, which GC and PCBL are set to monitor and ban their uses.

Fighting between the government and MILF forces have been going on since July 1, 2008 following the attack of the government soldiers against the local MILF forces at Sitio Tubak, Pagangan, Aleosan, Maguindanao.

The last encounter between the two forces was on November 2, 2008 when the government forces attacked the MILF forces at Barangay Tatapan, Datu Saudi Ampatuan. Some 22 soldiers of the government were killed in these fierce clashes.

Casualties on the government forces had reached to 500 soldiers more or less based on MILF reports since July 1, 2008.

Meanwhile, the 73rd Infantry Battalion, Philippine Army arrested early morning of November 15, 2008 a member of the Local Monitoring Team (LMT) for the province of Saranggani and five other minor Muslim civilians in Barangay Daliao, Maasim, Saranggani. Local Monitoring Team is a ceasefire mechanism under the ceasefire accord between the government and MILF.

The innocent victims were arrested arbitrarily and merely on the basis of suspcision that they have knowlegde on the explosion that rocked a military vehicle at around 1am same morning in the nearby area. The explosion killed two military men as certain Gustilo and Dalayap.

The arrest of a member of the ceasefire mechanisms, which has security and safety guarantee under the ceasefire accord, only showed that the government has already disregarded and abandoned the ceasefire and that his men disrespects the ceasefire.