MAMASAPANO, Maguindanao, 27 August — Army soldiers got their due, dead or seriously wounded, while encroaching into an area held by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a separatist spokesman said yesterday.
Eid Kabalu said the soldiers got a beating during a three-hour gunbattle in Barangay Tukanalipao of Mamasapano town, Maguindanao province on Sunday morning.
He said the soldiers belonged to the army’s 7th Infantry Battalion while the separatists were of the MILF’s 207th Brigade.
There was no confirmation from the military of the supposed skirmish.
“The unfortunate incident could have been avoided had it not been for the indiscriminate operations the military have been carrying out against identified MILF-influenced areas or communities,” Kabalu said.
Movements of troops in and around the towns of Mamasapano, Sultan Sa Barongis, Ampatuan and Sharif Aguak in Maguindanao had been visibly observed since the fighting the other week in Datu Piang, he said.” looking for justification as means to exploit the Bangsamoro people and community.”
After the exchange of gunfire, two attack helicopters reportedly came and indiscriminately bombarded suspected rebel positions, forcing residents to abandon their homes.
The MILF claimed that at mid-afternoon yesterday dozens work animals left behind by the fleeing residents were seized by the government militias upon the instruction of their army superiors.
“It was apparently a form of harassment or punishment for the civilians for their ties with the MILF,” said Kabalu. Despite the military atrocities, he said, the MILF “remains loyal to the cease-fire agreement” signed by the two sides last year.
