Maguindanao poblacion shelled; five wounded

COTABATO CITY — Suspected Moro rebels-turned-bandits shelled the town proper of Datu Piang in Maguindanao Sunday night, firing eight rounds of a 60 mm mortar, seriously wounding five people, three of them minors, and triggering panic among residents.

Maj. Julieto Ando, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the mortars were fired from the northeastern part of Datu Piang, a secluded, predominantly Muslim town in the second district of Maguindanao.

The attack left five civilians wounded, four of them identified as siblings Isarah, 5, and Homidi Blo, 9; Arnel Abbas, 9, Jose Salama, 40.

Ando said civilians have informed them that the group of a certain Commander Duma was responsible for the attack.

Ando, however, said they have yet to confirm this information.

"It was just fortunate that the mortars did not hit residential areas," he said. One of the mortar shells landed on an ice plant, while another hit a warehouse.

Ando said the attack could possibly be in retaliation for last week’s wounding of four followers of Tahir Alonto, who leads a notorious kidnap-for-ransom gang, in a chance encounter with elements of the Army’s 2nd Special Forces Battalion, in a nearby town.

Ghadzali Jaafar, political officer of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, has denied any involvement of their forces in the shelling, which prompted the 6th ID to set up a five-kilometer radius security zone from the Datu Piang town proper to prevent a repeat of the attack.

"The police and the military should investigate deeper into this incident to determine the real culprits and their motive for pounding the area with mortars," Jaafar said. — John Unson, Roel Pareño