COTABATO CITY, 21 April 2003 — At least 13 separatist guerrillas were killed in an artillery barrage as they tried to storm an army outpost in Central Mindanao, the military said yesterday.
About a hundred fighters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fired rocket-propelled grenades as they attacked soldiers in M’lang town, North Cotabato province, 830 kilometers (515 miles) south of Manila, a local army spokesman said.
The soldier’s outpost is located in New Antique, a strategically important village.
Maj. Julieto Ando, spokesman of the army 6th Infantry Division, said the soldiers responded with 105 mm howitzer cannons and when the smoke of battle cleared and the attackers retreated, they left behind 13 fallen comrades.
“It was a bull’s eye hit,” Ando said.
He said the army was checking accounts from villagers that rebel fighters also dragged some corpses away.
A number of rifles were recovered in the heavily bloodstained bushy area where the guerrillas had taken up their position, he said.
Ando accused the MILF of mounting the attack in an attempt to loot the town.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu acknowledged that their fighters were planning to attack military positions in New Antique but rejected the death toll announced by the military as propaganda.
He said it was their fighters who had killed “scores” of soldiers.
New Antique, a predominantly Christian village, is coveted by the guerrillas as a gateway to Liguasan Marsh, a vast swampland and longtime MILF sanctuary. The military captured large areas of the marsh in a major offensive two months ago, military officials said.
The military also accused 50 MILF guerrillas of attacking the town of Damulog, also in Central Mindanao, killing one person, burning a rice mill and seven houses and stealing two carabaos (water buffaloes) and a horse.
Kabalu said he had no information of this incident but described Ando’s suggestion of looting or stealing by the MILF as “silly and preposterous.”
He said it was the government side that was committing atrocities against civilians, pointing to the massacre of six farmers in the town of Alamada by government militiamen who “wanted to scare Muslim communities.”
Alamada mayor Ernesto Concepcion said the six victims, including a 10-year-old boy, were ambushed and shot dead while delivering their produce on horseback to the town center on Saturday.
An MILF report earlier identified the victims as Mama Agal, Gumbay Balimbingan and his wife Didaon Balimbingan, Sendad Sultan, Badria Agal a woman and Timbora Malidas, 12. The victims were all residents of Palipayin village in barangay Dado.
Mayor Concepcion said he had no clues as to the identities or motives of the attackers. (Input from Agencies)
