Basilan, Philippines, 18 June — Sunday’s clashes in the southern island of Basilan were fought between government troops and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters, the separatist group said yesterday.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said none of the combatants involved were Abu Sayyaf members as the military had claimed. Kabalu said MILF fighters stationed at Marang-Marang in Tuburan town were led by Commander Usman Idjal and Abu Jehad.
Although there is a standing cease-fire agreement between the government and the MILF, he said, the men of Idjal and Abu Jehad were forced to fight when army soldiers attacked them.
Kabalu said the gunbattles were so intense that 10 of the assaulting army soldiers were killed and six wounded, as against only one killed on the MILF side.
In the military’s account of the two gunbattles, three Abu Sayyaf gunmen were killed as against one soldier killed and four wounded.
There were no independent reports available so far on the clashes.
Kabalu said while it was the army side that took a beating in the Tuburan clashes, the MILF was alarmed by an “apparent effort” again by the military to link the MILF to the Abu Sayyaf.
He said they suspect the military may be doing that “to justify utilizing American combatants not only against the ASG (Abu Sayyaf) but the MILF as well.”
He likewise categorically denied charges by the military that the Abu Sayyaf kidnap gang leader Abu Sabaya managed to escape from a military cordon in Zamboanga del Norte through MILF assistance.
“The military should not use the MILF as an escape goat in their dismal failure to pin down ASG’s leader ...” Kabalu said.
Instead of trying to sabotage the goodwill built recently by government and MILF peace negotiators, Kabalu said, the military should focus its attention on the immediate implementation of a mechanism of cooperation in combating kidnap-for-ransom sroup and other criminal syndicates operating in Mindanao.
