KOLAMBUGAN: The military bolstered its forces in the southern Philippines yesterday, anticipating more attacks after a Moro rampage killed at least 37 people and displaced about 44,000.
A senior army general said additional security forces were deployed to prevent a repeat of Monday’s carnage, when about 200-500 fighters of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) cut off a main highway and raided up to five coastal towns in Lanao del Norte province.
The rebels burned houses and shot or hacked to death civilians and took others captive. In all, 33 civilians, at least three soldiers and a policeman were killed, said regional police director Teodorico Capuyan. The retreating rebels took 63 hostages as human shields but later released them in the next town, Tangcal, police spokesman Nicanor Bartolome said. Military officials said they believed a soldier and at least eight civilians were still in rebel custody.
The MILF leadership denied ordering the attacks, saying they were launched by renegade commanders frustrated at delays to finalizing a peace agreement.
Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno announced a 5 million peso ($113,000) bounty for information leading to the arrest of two rebel commanders — Abdullah Macapaar, also known as Bravo, who led the latest attacks, and Ameril Umbra Kato, who led the occupation of predominantly Christian villages in the south last week.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu also blamed Bravo for Monday’s attack, saying yesterday that Bravo will “face the consequence of his action” but did not elaborate.
The national disaster agency said about 44,000 people fled their homes during the latest fighting, most of them taking refuge in 19 evacuation centers in nearby Iligan and Ozamiz cities.
Brig. Gen. Antonio Supnet, head of an army brigade that flushed out the rebels, said the attackers were being treated as “criminals and we will go after them anywhere.”
Kolambugan Mayor Beltran Lumaque said residents “were killed as they were sighted.” Along a sidewalk in the town, the bodies of two-year-old Love-love and her father, Francisco Sosima Jr., 30, lay wrapped in a dirty bedsheet, surrounded by grieving relatives and onlookers.
“When they heard the gunshots, they tried to go up the stairs but they were hit by gunfire,” said a relative, Lolita Amomonpol. “They were fired upon by the rebels.” She said the town was asleep when the rampage started.
In the neighboring town of Kauswagan, police chief Nestor Ortiz said the rebels had regrouped in nearby mountainous hinterland and security forces were keeping a close watch on them.
