ZAMBOANGA CITY, 10 July 2003 -- At least 52 families were forced to flee their homes yesterday as troops bombarded a small island in the southern Philippines in an effort to flush out suspected separatist rebels who earlier clashed with security forces, separatist rebels claimed yesterday.
Air force planes and navy ships took turns bombing and shelling Kabugan island Zamboanga City, about 960 kilometers southeast of Manila. Fighting was also reported in the nearby islet of Panubigan, where the rebels were believed to be holding out, witnesses said.
“More and more people are fleeing their homes in Panubigan,” village councilor Zaldy Angeles told the radio station Radyo Agong by satellite phone.
The military’s Southern Command based in this key port city had not given any statement so far on the fighting in the island, a stronghold of renegade members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).
A son of an MNLF leader Aljibar Misuari contacted the Radyo Agong and said government forces were attacking them. He said OV-10 planes bombed their positions in the island, but there have been no reports of casualties.
“They bombed MNLF positions but no one was killed or wounded. There are many civilians now trapped in the island,” Misuari said.
The MNLF has signed a peace agreement with Manila in September 1996, but some of its members have returned to fighting the government, along with their chairman, Nur Misuari.
Misuari is under detention pending trial on charges of rebellion. The case stemmed from a disastrous attack by his forces on a major military base in the southern island of Jolo in November of 2001.
Most of the more than 150 people killed in the fighting were Misuari’s followers.
Also yesterday, the military has mounted a massive hunt for the leader of the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group amid reports that he and his followers were sighted in Central Mindanao.
Lt. Gen. Rodolfo Garcia, vice chief of staff of the military, said troops were tracking down Khadaffy Janjalani and his men in Palimbang town of Sultan Kudarat province. They have apparently escaped a military offensive in the southern island of Jolo.
Palimbang mayor Samrud Mamansual earlier reported to the military that Janjalani and his followers were spotted landing in one of the coastal villages in his town.
“We have a credible report and there is an ongoing operation in the province to track down Janjalani. Our forces are hot on their trail there,” Garcia told reporters.
Garcia did not say when Janjalani was spotted, but a military report yesterday said troops from the 27th Infantry Battalion have recovered over the weekend the three boats used by the rebels abandoned in the village of Libua.
One of the boat has markings “Farhana” and was registered in Zamboanga City in western Mindanao.
Philippine and US authorities have blamed Janjalani in the killing of 2 American hostages Guillermo Sobero and Martin Burnham in June last year. The US has offered up to five million dollars for Janjalani’s capture and of four other known leaders. President Arroyo has also offered P100 million reward for the capture of Abu Sayyaf personalities.
Garcia said villagers in Palimbang have volunteered to help track down the Janjalani. “People there in Palimbang are very much wary about this Abu Sayyaf group and have provided support to our troops. They have vollunteered to help track down the rebels,” he said.
Jolo military chief Brig. Gen. Alexander Aleo said Janjalani was reported to have fled the island in April after he was spotted with two suspected Indonesian members of the Jemaah Islamiya.
“That’s the last time he was here in Jolo and also the two Indonesian terrorists,” Aleo said.
