DAVAO CITY, Philippines, 20 March 2003 — After blasting power lines and electric posts, suspected Moro separatist rebels have turned their attention to water.

At least five villages here were without water since 1 a.m. Tuesday after a bomb destroyed three major steel pipes of the Metro Kidapawan Water District in Barangay Perez.

Rosauro Daga, water facilities management officer, said that of the three pipes destroyed, two directly supplied water to the “poblacion” area. Each of the pipes had a 68-liter-per-second capacity.

Police and military officials immediately blamed the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) for the bombing, which by one estimate cut off water supply to some 100,000 residents.

“This was still part of the MILF’s retaliatory attack on vital government installations after the military overran the Buliok complex,” Col. Agustin Demaala of the army’s 301st Infantry Brigade said.

To which MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu replied: “Here we go again.”

Kabalu denied the MILF was behind it, and 6th Infantry Division spokesman Maj. Julieto Ando said no one had yet come forward to claim responsibility for the attack.

Kabalu had repeatedly accused the government of turning the MILF into an “escaped goat” but yesterday the group admitted responsibility over an attack on a van in which six passengers were killed on Tuesday. He initially denied the attack, which authorities said was an attack on civilians. He said MILF fighters have a standing order to avoid civilians.”

But yesterday, Mohaqher Iqbal, MILF central committee chair, said it was the MILF that did it. He added, however, that they had a legitimate target.

“We got their identification cards and they were soldiers,” Iqbal said.

Officials said two of the dead have been identified as Lieutenant Aguinaldo Paul Vicente of the army’s Scout Rangers and police Insp. Marlo Martinez.

The rest were civilians, though, including several others who were injured.

Kabalu yesterday also admitted that their fighters were behind the attack which happened along the Cotabato Highway. “They (civilians) were in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he added.

Terror in School

In Sarangani province, residents of Barangay Calabalol in Glan town abandoned their homes late Tuesday afternoon after about 50 heavily armed MILF rebels entered the area.

The rebels reportedly entered the Calabalol Elementary School, about 4 km away from the national highway leading to the Glan poblacion around 4:30 p.m., then rounded up six teachers and more than 100 students.

Residents said the rebels poked their guns at some students and teachers before ordering them to leave the place.

Soldiers of the army’s 7th Special Forces Battalion rushed to the village but the prospect of civilian casualties prevented them from pursuing the rebels.

Col. Alexander Yano, 601st Army Brigade commander, said the rebels, which harassed the villagers, comprised the same group that clashed with soldiers in Barangay Burias, also in Glan, on Saturday evening.

An army sergeant was killed during that encounter.

Peace Talks

In Manila, an official said the MILF had agreed to resume peace talks with the government later this month in Malaysia.

Kuala Lumpur has been acting as an intermediary and the talks could resume “within the month,” said Eduardo Ermita, presidential adviser on the peace process.

Norberto Gonzales, another presidential adviser, said the government was not dealing directly with the MILF but was going through Malaysia, which has been acting as a third-party intermediary.

“We deal with the Malaysians and the Malaysians have advised us there will be talks,” Gonzales said, adding that there should be no preconditions attached to the resumption of negotiations.

The 12,500-strong MILF has been waging a 25-year insurgency to establish an independent state in Mindanao.