MILF has history of springing detained comrades

COTABATO CITY , Philippines  – A cross section of people in central Mindanao is convinced that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was involved in the escape of 31 inmates from the Basilan provincial jail because of the secessionist group’s past actions.

Nine years ago, the MILF sprung Tahir Alonto, Pentagon kidnap gang leader, from the Sarangani provincial jail. That attack was led by the wife of Alonto, who hails from Pagalungan, Maguindanao.

The fatigue-clad gunmen barged into the Sarangani provincial jail, fired B-40 anti-tank rockets at jail guards, and took Alonto from his cell.

Shoulder-fired B-40 anti-tank rockets are the signature weapon of the MILF.

Several guards and inmates, among them Solaiman “Salem” Awal, reportedly an MILF intelligence officer, were killed in the firefight between the attackers and jail guards.

The gunmen spirited Alonto to South Cotabato on board a passenger jeepney.

He was last reported to have died in a military air strike in his lair near S.K. Pendatun town in Maguindanao four years ago.

In January 2006, suspected MILF rebels raided the Cotabato provincial jail in Kidapawan City and rescued Datu Ali Sultan, who was said to have trained in the fabrication of improvised bombs in Kandahar, Afghanistan in the late 1990s.

The raiders destroyed the jail’s fence with B-40 anti-tank rockets and 40 MM grenade projectiles, entered the premises and set Sultan and his three companions free.

More than 40 other inmates took advantage of the commotion and escaped through the hole the attackers created on one side of the jail’s concrete enclosure.

Following the attack, armed men disguised as soldiers sprung two suspected bombers from the Maguindanao provincial jail at the supposedly heavily guarded PC Hill in Cotabato City.

Also located on PC Hill are more than a dozen offices of different Army units and the Cotabato City police office.

The attack at the Maguindanao provincial jail was carefully planned, according to investigators.

It was preceded by two explosions in areas not far from the jail, creating a commotion that diverted the attention of city police.

As police were investigating the explosions, armed men clad in Army uniforms arrived at the Maguindanao provincial jail, and at gunpoint ordered guards to release to them the two suspected bombers.

They left the scene on board two vehicles.

Early this year, suspected MILF rebels attempted to rescue several cohorts detained at the Cotabato provincial jail, but guards repelled them.

A jail guard was killed, while three others were wounded in the attack.

Soon after, eight high-profile inmates at the Cotabato provincial jail, all with links to the MILF, were transferred by the Department of Justice to a detention facility in Taguig at the behest of local officials.  

The MILF’s central committee, through spokesman Eid Kabalu, has denied any participation in the spate of attacks on detention facilities in central Mindanao. — John Unson