17 Muslim guerrillas killed, 7 captured in camp siege

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Camp Usman, a major enclave of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) at the boundary of Bukidnon and North Cotabato, fell to military control last Monday after two days of fierce fighting that left 17 rebels dead, a military spokesman said.

Maj. Johnny Macanas, spokesman of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, said MILF commander Ayog Abdullah and six of his men were captured after the clash at the 2,000-hectare MILF camp. Abdullah was cornered in a newly dug bunker.

During interrogation, the captured guerrillas, all Maguindanaoans, admitted members of the notorious Pentagon kidnapping gang, headed by Tahir Alonto, fought alongside them in the two-day gunbattle.

Abdullah, according to his men, welcomed the Pentagon members to the camp after they fled Maguindanao and the Cotabato provinces due to the relentless pursuit of the 6th Infantry Division.

They also informed military probers that the MILF had eyed Camp Usman to replace Camp Abubakar, their former headquarters in Buldon, Maguindanao that government troops overran during the Estrada administration’s all-out war against Moro separatists in 2000.

Macanas told The STAR that elements of the 403rd Infantry Brigade based in Malaybalay City in Bukidnon, swooped down on Camp Usman after getting intelligence reports that some 200 MILF and Pentagon members from Cotabato and Maguin—danao had entered the Army unit’s turf in Damulog town.

Camp Usman is located at the boundary of the towns of Damulog in Bukidnon and Carmen and Arakan in North Cotabato.

Last Sunday, the men of Col. Zaldy Salimbangon, commander of the 58th Infantry Battalion, encountered the rebel forces at the MILF’s Basag complex, which the military subsequently also overran.

Elements of the 8th Infantry Battalion, under Lt. Col. Glenn Macasero, later joined their colleagues in the 403rd IB and 58th IB in the Camp Usman raid.

Soldiers found a caliber 50 machinegun, four rifles (two M-16s, an M-14 and a Garand), a metal box full of caliber 50 ammunition, several communication equipment and MILF documents at the camp.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu, however, denied that they have any forces in Damulog.

"We have no men in Bukidnon. The armed men there, as far as we know, are the men of Tahir Alonto," he said when contacted via mobile phone.

He said they are still verifying whether Abdullah is indeed one of their commanders.

"Apparently, those killed and captured were only civilian criminal elements who were ‘salvaged’ (summarily executed) by the military and whom they later claimed to be members of the MILF to justify their operations against us," Kabalu said.

He said Camp Usman does not extend to Damulog and only covers Carmen, Arakan and part of President Roxas, all in North Cotabato.

Macanas said they expected the MILF’s denial.

More than 100 families fled the area due to the fighting and have taken refuge in other parts of Damulog.

The MILF has been waging a rebellion to establish an independent Islamic state in Mindanao since 1978.

The 12,000-strong group has signed a ceasefire with the government to pave the way for peace talks but sporadic clashes with government forces still occur. – With AFP