The bombing, the worst ever in the history of Maguindanao, left 19 people dead, among them then Datu Piang mayor Saudi Ampatuan and his brother-in-law, Nasution Macapendeg.
The band of Moro guerrillas first killed on Wednesday two militiamen accompanying policemen who tried to serve a warrant for the arrest of Commander Mando Tambolangan, said to be a member of the Moro National Liberation Front, in Datu Saudi Ampatuan town in the second district of Maguindanao.
The slain militiamen, Uga Maliga and Macmod Satol, were killed on the spot when followers of Tambolangan opened fire, provoking a two-hour running gunbattle.
Military sources said the tension in the area worsened when Tambolangan’s group joined ranks with a much bigger group led by a commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Ustadz Wahid Tundok, who is said to have links with the Indonesian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah.
Tundok is wanted for last year’s attack on a roadside military detachment in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, which left seven soldiers dead, some of them former members of the Moro National Liberation Front who were integrated into the Army.
Hostilities in the vicinity of Tambolangan’s hideout spread to nearby Barangays Gawang, Dapiawan and Pusao, all in the same town, when the rebels fired at soldiers helping the police track them down.
The wounded, Pfcs. Marlowe Salinas, Richard Boter and Jury Montejo and SPO1 Jimmy Coronel, were airlifted to the dispensary of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division here.
Military intelligence units in Maguindanao confirmed that Tambolangan and Tundok have fled, along with their followers, to Datu Saudi Ampatuan and Datu Piang towns.
Maj. Gen. Agustin Dema-ala, 6th ID commander, said the division, various non-government organizations and the integrated provincial health office are now jointly overseeing the rehabilitation of hundreds of villagers displaced by the hostilities.
Dema-ala has appealed to the MILF ceasefire committee to help the 6th ID track down Tambolangan and Tundok.
The MILF’s news website, luwaran.com, branded the military maneuver in the area as a violation of the ceasefire since it was undertaken without prior coordination with the front.