MILF rebels kill 4 soldiers, 3 militiamen in ambush

MANILA, Philippines – The military reported that Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels killed four soldiers and three militiamen while 11 others were wounded after an ambush yesterday morning in Barangay Ilian, Mulondo, Lanao del Sur.

Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr., Army spokesman, said the fatalities included four Army troopers and three members of the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu). Eight Army soldiers and three militiamen were also wounded in the attack that occurred about 8 a.m.

Brawner said the convoy of the Army’s 5th Infantry Battalion was distributing subsistence allowances to militiamen in local Cafgu detachments when they were attacked by a large group of MILF rebels.

The identities of the casualties were withheld pending notification of their families.

Brawner said the troops fought back at the rebels, who also tried to attack a nearby military detachment.

The attack sparked a two-hour firefight between reinforcing soldiers and the MILF rebels, according to Army Brig. Gen. Hilario Atendido, chief of the Army’s 102nd Infantry Brigade.

Lanao del Sur is a known bailiwick of the MILF, the largest secessionist organization in the country that occupied several barangays in North Cotabato last week. The rebels eventually pulled out of the villages after a series of offensives launched by the military.

The latest attack in Lanao del Sur came a week after the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order on the signing of the memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain between the MILF and the government that seeks to expand the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Brawner said members of the 33rd Infantry Battalion immediately sent reinforcement to the troops that were pinned down by the rebels in their military vehicles.

He said the MILF also suffered a still undetermined number of casualties.

Brawner said government troops have launched pursuit operations following the attack.

He said that while the ambush site is near North Cotabato, the group that ambushed the military convoy was not the same one that was flushed out by the military and police in the province last week.

Brawner said the military would file a complaint before the Joint Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities over the incident. – With AP