Guard killed as MILF rebels attack North Cotabato jail

COTABATO CITY, Philippines – A jail guard was killed while three others were wounded in a bungled attempt by Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels to rescue 12 of their comrades detained at the North Cotabato provincial jail in Kidapawan City before dawn yesterday.

Police said Jail Officer 3 Jake Rosales was killed when an anti-tank B-40 rocket-propelled grenade, a signature weapon of the MILF, landed near him when the attackers opened fire at the provincial jail from different directions.

Other jail guards on duty fought back for about 30 minutes, preventing the rebels from entering the jail premises until responding soldiers and policemen arrived at the scene.

Senior Superintendent Jose Calimutan, deputy chief for administration of the North Cotabato police, said jail warden Redentor Marasigan and two subordinates, Kahar Macasundang and Fermin Alarcon, were wounded in the firefight.

“The rebels failed in their mission to rescue their detained cohorts because the guards have been on alert for more than a month now due to persistent information that there was a plan to attack the jail,” Calimutan said.

Calimutan said the policemen and soldiers who rushed to the scene shot it out with the guerrillas, who eventually retreated carrying their wounded companions.

Police and military intelligence sources said the rebel attackers were attempting to rescue 12 detained members of the MILF’s Special Operations Group.

The 12 inmates – identified as Ibrahim Sacandal, Kadaffy Saligan, Allan Hadji Gani, Tony Nur, Alex Tatukain San­duyugan, Obping Kasulutan, Dalih Panamay, Samsudin Ayunan, Abdulbayan Ebra,  Mansur Salih, Rommel Lumacob, and Larry Antelino – are facing charges of multiple murder, kidnapping, bombing and extortion.

Sacandal, also known as Jun Sarat, is one of the four founders of the Pentagon kidnapping gang.

Sanduyugan, Saligan and Kasulutan, reputedly foreign-trained bombers, were implicated in recent deadly bombings in North Cotabato.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Ponce, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said they have been receiving information that the MILF rebels who attacked the provincial jail belong to the same group that rescued detained foreign-trained bomb expert Datu Ali Sultan from the same jail two years ago.

More that 40 other inmates took advantage of that attack and bolted their cells.

Sultan was said to have undergone training in bomb-making in Kandahar, Afghanistan in the early 1990s.

Last week, the MILF suffered 50 casualties in clashes with government troops in Guindulungan, Maguindanao. Soldiers also overran two MILF camps in the town. – With Dennis Carcamo and James Mananghaya