MILF rebs storm S. Kudarat town

GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- Clashes erupted yesterday afternoon as elements of the Army's 15th Infantry Battalion backed up by helicopter gunships tried to flush out Muslim separatist rebels holding 40 people hostage in an upland village in Sultan Kudarat.

No reports of casualties were immediately available from either side, and the status of the civilian hostages was also undetermined after the shelling of the remote farming town of Esperanza where Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels were holed up.

According to the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC), around 1,000 MILF rebels entered Sitio Manirup in Barangay Pamantingan around 7 a.m.

But MILF vice chairman for military affairs Al-Haj Murad said the incident was not a hostage-taking, rather the civilians were caught in a crossfire between the military and MILF forces who happened to pass by the area. He described the ensuing firefight as "sporadic."

The MILF also yesterday canceled a scheduled meeting this week with government negotiators because of an air attack on their main base in Maguindanao. They were supposed to explore ways to end the latest round of clashes between them.

In Manirup, a gunbattle erupted when the rebels opened fire at soldiers and policemen sent to rescue the villagers. But the soldiers and policemen could not return fire at will for fear of endangering the hostages.

The clash began while emissaries sent by Sultan Kudarat Gov. Datu Pax Mangudadatu were trying to establish contact with the rebels.

Despite pleas from negotiators led by Esperanza Mayor Fernando Floteña, the rebels have refused to allow residents to leave. The rebels have made no demands, saying negotiations should be made with the MILF's central committee.

Army troops and policemen surrounded the village but did not move in for fear of endangering the hostages. But a gunbattle erupted when the rebels fired rockets at them.

About 800 frightened families in five nearby villages have fled their homes and sought shelter in the town proper around three kilometers away.

According to the military, the hostage-takers were from an MILF satellite camp in the Daguma mountains which the rebels had earlier claimed as part of Camp Omar.

The mountain range stretches from Bagumbayan and Esperanza in Sultan Kudarat to Ampatuan and Shariff Aguak towns in Maguindanao where the MILF's main base, Camp Abubakar, is located.

Yesterday the MILF claimed that at least 17 people there -- mostly women and children -- were killed and several others were wounded in an Air Force air strike.

MILF vice chairman for political affairs Ghazali Jaafar said in a telephone interview that three MG-520 helicopter gunships and three OV-10 ground attack planes rocketed and bombed Camp Sarmiento.

Camp Sarmiento served as a reception and commercial area of the MILF. One of the structures destroyed, according to Jaafar, was the office of MILF vice chairman for military affairs Al-Haj Murad.

"This is already a clear indication that the military is already implementing its operational plan which is to get Camp Abubakar. They have already shifted their focus from clearing Narciso Ramos Highway to really going after our camp," said an MILF source who declined to be identified.

Jaafar said there are civilian communities inside Camp Abubakar and that a military assault could endanger people.

The military has denied conducting air strikes. But ABS-CBN television reporter Jun del Rosario claimed he was at the scene at the time of the attack. He took video footage of wounded civilians, most of them children.

Because of the incident, the MILF canceled a two-day "special meeting" with government negotiators set for Tuesday and Wednesday in Cotabato City.

The two sides were supposed to discuss ways to end the latest round of clashes in Maguindanao. "Peace talks and violence don't go together," MILF secretary Nasser Abas said. He did not say when the two sides would meet, if ever.

While denying the air strikes, military spokesman Col. Rafael Romero did say that they were conducting "clearing operations" along the Secretary Narciso Ramos Highway for which the MILF and the military have been battling for control for days.

Clashes along the Narciso Ramos Highway bordering Camp Abubakar erupted when the military tried to break up MILF roadblocks extorting money from motorists.

Yesterday the soldiers' morale got a big boost after hearing that tons of ammunition and supplies from Manila finally arrived at nearby Polloc Port.

"We really want to finish this war which the MILF started," said Pvt. Juan Cristobal who hails from Zamboanga City. Soldiers said their morale remained high and they were confident of defeating the rebels.

Those interviewed also said there should be no ceasefire, believing that the MILF would only attack again in the future.

Yesterday a women's group volunteered to find dead and missing soldiers in Matanog town after the Army last week refused to give Red Cross volunteers permission to look for dead or injured combatants.

The military said they refused entry because it was not safe.

"The rebels there are now showing signs of suicidal tendencies. Sometimes they come out of their bunkers shouting and crying for help. Some of them stand in the middle of the highway challenging our men to shoot them," Army 6th Infantry Division spokesman Capt. Noel Detoyato said.

Major Julieto Ando, 6th Infantry Division civil-military relations chief, said clashes were no longer intense, indicating that the rebels were probably running low on ammunition and supplies.-- With reports from Roel Pareño, Sandy Araneta, Edith Regalado