ZAMBOANGA CITY, 15 April 2007 — Two Marine soldiers and a civilian were killed while eight other soldiers and another civilian were wounded after Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) forces fired mortar rounds at a municipal hall and a military detachment in Panamao town, Sulu province, officials said yesterday.
On Friday evening, MNLF troops led by Ustadz Habier Malik, fired mortar rounds at the Panamao municipal hall in Seit village, leaving a child dead and another child wounded, said Lt. Col. Ariel Caculitan, spokesman for the Philippine Marine Corps.
Then at around 6 a.m. yesterday, “hundreds” of Malik’s men attacked the detachment of the 11th Marine Battalion Landing Team in Tayungan village, leaving two soldiers killed and eight others wounded, Caculitan said in a phone interview.
“This is a clear violation of the peace agreement between the government and MNLF,” said Maj. Gen. Ruben Rafael, commander of the counter-terrorism Task Force Comet.
“The military is currently on active defense mode. We are moving our forces to prevent further escalation of MNLF attacks...We will continue to adhere to the primary of the 1992 peace agreement but we will suppress this lawlessness perpetrated by this group,” he said in a statement.
Caculitan said an estimated 16 mortar rounds were fired at the municipal hall in Seit village while the firefight in Tayungan village was ongoing as of 11 a.m. Saturday.
“We will not take this sitting down. The group of Malik will be pursued. We are already mobilizing our forces,” Caculitan said.
Caculitan suspected that the MNLF may be retaliating for government offensives against the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah who have sought refuge in MNLF territories. He said MNLF forces may have been hurt by these operations.
“Another possibility is that the MNLF is in cahoots with the Abu Sayyaf,” the spokesman said.
Three Abu Sayyaf members were captured while a Marine trooper was wounded in twin operations in Sulu last Monday.
— With input from agencies
