Military chopper hit by Moro reb gunfire

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Muslim separatists fired on a military helicopter during clashes in Maguindanao, a military official said here yesterday.

Col. Jogy Leo Fojas, chief of staff of the Armed Forces’ Southern Command, said the UH-1H Huey helicopter managed to complete its airlift mission after being hit in its synchronized elevator, a part crucial to its airworthiness.

Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas attacked the aircraft the other day as it was carrying out a mission in Sultan sa Barongis town in Maguindanao.

Fojas said the damaged helicopter has been grounded for repair.

But two MG-520 helicopter gunships and two OV-10 attack planes continued to blast MILF positions, he said.

Fighting with the MILF broke out last Monday after guerrilla forces attacked an Army Scout Ranger patrol, forcing the military to call in airstrikes.

An Army captain, Jesus Durante, of the 2nd Scout Ranger Battalion, has been wounded in the fighting so far, Fojas said.

The number of casualties on the rebel side has not yet been determined but intercepted radio communications from the MILF indicated that as many as 10 of them had been killed with many more wounded.

Sporadic clashes with the MILF continued yesterday as troops in the area came under sniper fire from small groups, Fojas said.

The fighting erupted days after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo named new members to a government peace panel aimed at reopening stalled talks with both the MILF and communist insurgents.

The 13,000-strong MILF is the country’s main Muslim insurgent group and is waging a guerrilla war to set up an Islamic state in Mindanao.

It pulled out of peace talks with the Estrada administration last year after the military overran most of their camps in Mindanao. — Roel Pareño, John Unson