ZAMBOANGA CITY — The country’s largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), has said its forces were hunting down former guerrillas linked to the killing of a senior member in the southern Philippines.
“Our forces are tracking down these former guerrillas who killed one of our commanders. They could mount attacks against civilian targets because they are extremely dangerous,” a rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu told Arab News.
The hunt coincided with military reports on Wednesday linking rouge MILF members in a plot to bomb targets in the Davao City in the southern Philippines.
The military said it may have foiled a terror attack after soldiers raided a rebel hideout late Monday and recovered pipe bombs near Tagum City. It said two rebels had escaped the raid, but troops were pursuing them in the area.
Kabalu said MILF fighters were alerted about some former hardcore members who were behind the killing in late September of Bashir Takasan in Lupon town in Davao Oriental province. Takasan, he said, was a member of the MILF’s peace panel ad hoc joint action group.
Kabalu did not say why Takasan was murdered, but claimed he was active in peace talks.
The MILF is currently negotiating peace with Manila.
Authorities previously linked the MILF to the 2003 bombings of the Sasa wharf and the Davao City International Airport that left dozens of people dead and wounded.
The MILF has denied the charges.
Aside from the MILF, authorities also blamed the attacks on the Al-Qaeda-affiliate Abu Sayyaf group and the regional terror network, Jemaah Islamiyah.
Meanwhile, the MILF chief peace negotiator has said peace talks between his group and the Philippine government will resume early next year.
“We are always optimistic and we agreed to resume the peace talks early next year in Kuala Lumpur. We may discuss the issue on ancestral domain,” Mohager Iqbal told Arab News earlier this week.
Malaysia is brokering peace talks.
Negotiations ended in September in Kuala Lumpur with both sides failing to sign any agreement on the most contentious issue — ancestral domain.
Ancestral domain refers to the rebel demand for territory that will constitute a Muslim homeland. It is the single most important issue in the peace negotiations before the rebel group can reach a political settlement.
