ZAMBOANGA CITY, 21 July 2003 — Army soldiers raided a hideout of separatist Muslim rebels on a remote village in the southern Philippines, breaking a fragile truce between the Arroyo government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said about 30 government soldiers, many of them in civilian clothes, raided the village of Crossing Dungguan, Pagagawan town in Maguindanao province on Saturday.
The soldiers arrived on board several motorboats — their weapons covered from under their seats — shortly after rebel leader Tahir Magtanggol left the village, Kabalu said.
“They barged into a house where Commander Tahir Magtangol and his men rested and seized several of our weapons. The raid was illegal and it violated the cease-fire,” Kabalu told the Arab News.
He said: “MILF forces have left the village even before soldiers could arrive, but the presence of armed soldiers, disguised as civilians, scared many innocent Muslim civilians there.”
Kabalu said the military is provoking MILF forces into armed confrontation. “MILF forces are under strict orders to observe the cease-fire and we will not break this,” he said.
Kabalu said the incident will not affect the peace talks to be held in Kuala Lumpur this month, but the MILF will file a formal protest with the government peace panel and would inform the Malaysia about the truce violation.
“We will file a protest with the government peace panel because this raid a violation of the truce,” he said.
Malaysia is mediating the talks between the Arroyo government and the MILF, the country’s largest separatist Muslim rebel group fighting for independence in the southern Philippines.
President Arroyo has signed the cease-fire agreement with MILF which took effect on Saturday. She also ordered the lifting of warrants of arrest against MILF chieftain Hashim Salamat and other senior rebel leaders — implicated in the series of bombings in the south that left more than 100 people dead since early this year — to pave the way for the resumption of the talks.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the MILF on Saturday said there have been no fighting in the strife-torn region because of the truce.
A statement from the military’s Southern Command did not mention anything about the MILF in its raid. It said the troops clashed with about 40 cattle rustlers, led by Magtangol.
“Operations were conducted in response to complaints of civilians regarding the presence of armed group in the area,” it said.
The statement, released by Maj. Gen. Roy Kyamco, head of the military’s Southerm Command, said soldiers, from the army’s 40th Infantry Battalion, seized two anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade launchers (RPG) and five munitions from the village.
MILF spokesman Kabalu said there were no clashes. “They are stupid. There were no fighting. But the soldiers raided the houses owned by rebels.”
