COTABATO CITY, 19 May 2003 — Philippine Air Force planes and helicopters, taking advantage of clearing weather, began pounding rebel strongholds in the southern Philippines yesterday with bombs and rockets in a new “anti-terrorist” crackdown.
Military officials claimed at least 50 separatist fighters were killed, but the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) leaders immediately laughed off the report.
Troops also began an artillery barrage and opened extensive ground operations against the separatist bases in the in the Lanao region and the Liguasan Marsh in central Mindanao.
Gen. Narciso Abaya, the military chief of staff, ordered the offensive hours after President Gloria Arroyo authorized “selective aerial and artillery attacks to dislodge embedded terrorist cells.”
Arroyo gave the order on Saturday before departing for a state visit to the United States to seek military and economic aid. Arroyo did not name any specific target of the crackdown but she was apparently referring to the MILF, whom the government has blamed for a series of bombings and attacks that have left more than 210 people dead so far this year.
General Abaya yesterday said the target of new aerial and artillery attacks are MILF camps in Mindanao “where attackers take refuge, rest and get their logistics after committing atrocities.”
The military fired at least 135 artillery rounds on MILF positions in two areas of Mindanao island over the past 24 hours, killing an estimated “50 or more” MILF rebels, regional military chief Lt. Gen. Roy Kyamco said, though no bodies have been recovered.
“The troops are closing in to the targets to verify the impact and result of the selective bombing,” he told reporters.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said the military’s claim of killing 50 guerrillas was ridiculous. “Its either they’re misleading the president or they are cooking something for their own interest,” he told Arab News.
“If indeed 50 people were killed by the airstrikes, they could be civilians because not one MILF fighter was killed yesterday,” he said.
Aloy Al-Ashrie, an MILF field commander, said the bombs unleashed by the air force “could have exploded somewhere else or misfired because not one of them hit any of our positions.”
In another interview with a wire agency, however, Kabalu admitted that the military fired many rounds of howitzers and mortars in the towns of Poona Piagapo, Munai and Kauswagan.
“We still don’t have reports of casualties on both sides,” he said.
Kabalu also said MILF rebels killed three soldiers in a separate clash on Saturday near the town of Mlang in Maguindanao province.
Maj. Gen. Cristolito Balaoing, an army division commander in the Lanao area, insisted that intercepted rebel radio messages indicated scores of rebels were killed in the bombardment.
The military also said 13 MILF fighters surrendered yesterday near the central Mindanao town of President Quirino.
Aside from the MILF, the military has also been engaging Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf bandits on the southern island of Jolo and communist guerrillas scattered on Mindanao.
Hundreds of soldiers were being deployed from elsewhere in the country to reinforce troops in the ongoing offensive, Kyamko said. Arroyo ordered local officials to be on alert for possible reprisal attacks for the new crackdown. Two men aboard a motorcycle hurled a grenade at a restaurant in southern Cotabato City late yesterday, causing damage but no injuries, police said. No one claimed responsibility for the attack.
Arroyo has demanded that the MILF renounce terrorism and surrender rebels responsible for the attacks by June 1 or it will be declared a terrorist organization — a step toward cutting off the rebels’ international support.
