MNLF rebels attack Lamitan

MANILA, Philippines - In an apparent attempt to divert the military's attention, armed members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) attacked Lamitan City in Basilan province on Thursday morning.

Senior Superintendent Mario Dapilloza, Basilan provincial police office director, said the attack happened at around 8:50 a.m. in Barangay Campo Uno.

Three members of the Philippine Army's Scout Ranger battalion identified as Pfcs. Ruel Martinez and Wilvan Caro and M/Sgt. Ernesto Landagura were wounded. 

Another report said one person was killed in the firefight, City Vice Mayor Roderick Furigay said that five people were reported missing after the attack at the predominantly Christian city.

Furigay aid barangay officials have initially reported that the slain villager was trapped in the crossfire when armed residents, soldiers and policemen engaged the approaching gunmen.

Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Mujiv Hataman said that the MNLF's latest attack was repulsed.

Dapilloza said that pursuit operations against the rebels are ongoing.

Hataman said that the police and the military in the city had been on alert after sightings of armed men, believed to be MNLF members.

He said that the city's residents had evacuated on Wednesday.

Furigay said barangay folks and displaced villagers who were forced to relocate to safer areas reported having seen three groups of MNLF renegades in different sites in Colonia, one attacking villages, while the two others just standing down, as if positioned to block soldiers and policeman that may come from the thoroughfares connecting the area to the city proper.   

Basilan island province is a boat ride away from Zamboanga city, where MNLF fighters led by at least five of the rebel group's commanders have been holding their hostage since Monday, when government troops repulsed their attempt to erect a rebel flag at the city hall.

The three-day crisis has virtually paralyzed Zamboanga, a lively trading city of nearly a million people, with most flights and ferry services suspended. Communities near the clashes resembled a war zone, with armored troop carriers lining streets, troops massing at a school and snipers taking positions atop buildings. A mosque and its minaret were pockmarked with bullet holes.

Marines were able to push back the rebels occupying a mosque in Barangay Sta. Barbara on Wednesday.

Authorities said that an undetermined number of rebels were wounded or killed as they attempted to keep the mosque under their control.

Latest reports said that at least nine people, including civilians, have been killed in the three-day standoff.

Nearly 15,000 villagers have also fled from the fighting and took shelter at a grandstand in a seaside sports complex and schools.

Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said that troops were under orders to prevent the rebels from straying beyond the communities they have seized or getting reinforcements.

The rebels signed a peace deal in 1996, but their faction leader accuses the government of reneging on a promise to develop the impoverished, restive region.

The rebel leader, Nur Misuari, has isolated himself and set out on a collision course with the government when he voiced opposition to the ongoing peace talks between the Philippines and the currently-dominant rebel movement, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. with Roel Pareño, John Unson and Associated Press