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Filipino Military Attacks MILF Strongholds
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Before departing the Philippines, Arroyo ordered selective strikes against Muslim separatist target
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By
Kazi Mahmood, IOL Southeast Asia correspondent
Kuala
Lumpur, May 19 (IslamOnline.net) - War broke out again in the
Philippines province of Mindanao where Muslim rebels are now under
attack from the military, indicating that the peace process has
completely broke down in the largely Muslim dominated area.
The
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a group of Muslim rebels
fighting for independence of their territory from the Philippines has
suffered scores of dead, with no less than 80 dead on their side, news
reports said on Monday, May 19.
The
MILF confirmed that the casualty toll was heavy after the continuous
bombing by the military of its ‘territories” but denied the MILF
had suffered 80 death. It vowed it will strike back and that this time
the war has begun in Mindanao after a short spell of peace since 2002.
Eid
Kabalu, MILF spokesperson, said their field forces in the Zamboanga
peninsula and near Camp Abubakar, the former main MILF base in
Maguindanao, did not hear exploding bombs in their areas, reported the
Inq7 news website on Monday.
But
he admitted that MILF forces in Lanao del Norte, particularly in the
towns of Kauswagan, Munai and Piagapo, and in the Buliok complex in
North Cotabato had been subjected to military bombardments.
"The
bombardments have been going on even before (the President's) order.
So these things were not new to us," he said.
The
MILF were still holding their grounds and were fighting back bravely
despite the heavy bombings, he added.
The
renewed conflict has displaced more than 30,000 people since Sunday,
May 18, and there are fears that more civilians will leave their homes
and villages for shelter in areas that are not under gun fire.
80,000
people, mostly Muslims were displaced when the military launched a
series of offensives in MILF territories earlier this year in Pikit,
resulting in a humanitarian chaos that has still not been settled.
The
Filipino government said it was not against the MILF itself but
against “pro-terror” elements hiding within territories occupied
by the rebel group.
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Heavily armed Philippine marines conducting a foot patrol
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It
has so far hesitated to call the MILF a terror organization despite
pressures from its military commanders in the southern region to put
the terror tag on the back of the Muslim group.
On
the eve of her visit to the United States, President Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo gave orders to the military to attack what she called selective
targets in Mindanao.
She
said the military was ordered to carry out raids and strike at
‘terror camps’ and terrorists based in the region in order to
clamp down on terror acts.
A
spate of bombing in Mindanao has rendered the peace treaty signed
between the warring factions in Putra Jaya and Malaysia last year
redundant and it appears that there is little hope to salvage after
Sunday’s launch of renewed bombing by the military.
The
MILF said on Monday that Arroyo had ordered the bombings of
“selective targets” in order to wrangle more military assistance
from Washington and cover up what he said was her military's failure
to crush the decades-old Moro rebellion in the South, reported the
Inq7 website.
"We
also have our own version of selective targets and we will be hitting
back against the military… The MILF will hit back and we will hit
hard," Kabalu told The Star newspaper.
MILF
commander Abdurahman Macapaar, alias Commander Bravo, also warned that
the rebels will strike back at the military through their "highly
trained snipers" posted "all over Mindanao."
"We
want to do away with hitting civilians in the crossfire. We can not
yet match the military’s high-powered armaments and gunships,"
Bravo told Inq7, explaining why the MILF would have to resort to
snipers.
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