ZAMBOANGA, 29 December 2002 — About 40 gunmen ambushed Filipino employees of a Canadian mining company in Zamboanga del Norte province on Thursday afternoon, killing 13 and wounding 10. The military immediately said the armed men could have been Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels, and extortion could have been the motive.

Western Mindanao police chief Simeon Dizon said that the ambush victims were on a Toyota van and an Isuzu light truck owned by Toronto Ventures Inc.

He said that among those killed in the ambush were three security guards of Toronto Ventures and Subanen leader Timuay Marciano Sapian.

Two of the guards’ colleagues returned fire and apparently wounded some of the attackers.

Victoria Jamolod, a company official, said reports indicated that most of the fatalities were wives of Subanen employees.

But she said the company could not release the names yet.

Dizon said the police could not determine the motive yet but added that armed groups, including the communist New People’s Army and the MILF, were operating in the area.

He said investigators were also looking into the legal battle between the company and small-scale miners in the area.

The Catholic charity Caritas Philippines has said the Canadian company had been harassing tribesmen opposed to mining operations on their ancestral land, where many of their dead are buried.

The ambush was the second deadly attack in two days, after a powerful bomb exploded on Dec. 24 in Datu Piang town in Maguindanao, outside the home of town mayor Saudie Ampatuan, killing him and 16 other people.

On the same day, a grenade attack in the town of Pikit in North Cotabato province killed one person and wounded four others, and a bomb explosion in the town of S. K. Pendatun in neighboring Maguindanao province injured two persons.

It was not clear if there was a link between the incidents, which occurred roughly 160 kilometers apart, but in both cases military officials quickly blamed the MILF.

Even before news of the ambush had filtered out, President Gloria Arroyo placed Cotabato City — home to the Ampatuans and other politicians from nearby Maguindanao towns, who maintain fully armed bodyguards — under strict police and military supervision.

The President also created Task Force Southern Mindanao and assigned Major General Generoso Senga as head.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu denied his group’s participation in both attacks.

“We have not engaged in extortion activities and the company (Toronto Ventures) could testify on that ... Moreover, the MILF has a standing policy that we do not target civilians ... We are also observing the Aug. 7, 2001 ceasefire agreement,” Kabalu told reporters.

Murad Ebrahim, MILF military chief and head of the MILF peace panel, reiterated Kabalu’s denial.

Ebrahim said the initial military findings linking the MILF to the Datu Piang bomb attack were “highly speculative.”

Murad agreed with calls for a full-blown investigation into the bombing. But he said the rebel group could not do anything if the government unilaterally suspended the peace process.

Maguindano provincial governor Andal Ampatuan has maintained his silence since his son Huffer died in a shootout on Dec. 21 and Mayor Saudie died on Dec. 24.

But a nephew has called on the government to temporarily suspend peace talks with the MILF until a full-blown and impartial investigation has clarified its participation in the Datu Piang carnage.

“I am writing the GRP-MILF peace panel to look into the culpability of the MILF for the massacre of 17 people,” said Captain Taharudin Piang-Ampatuan, deputy chief of the Army’s doctrine center in Cotabato City.

Despite the MILF denials, most members of the Ampatuan clan believed that the rebel group was behind the Datu Piang encounter.

“If they (MILF rebels) believe they are not part of it, then they must help bring the attackers before the bar of justice,” Captain Ampatuan said.

During his term as mayor of Shariff Aguak town, the governor and his followers had come under constant attack from armed groups, including the Moro National Liberation Front.

Late on Thursday, an unidentified man hurled a grenade at a food stall in Pikit and fled. A later report said at least one victim had died while four others were injured.

Separately, two people were wounded when a homemade bomb exploded near a market in S. K. Pendatun in Maguindanao, where Moro rebels are known to operate. The grenade blast in North Cotabato occurred eight hours later.