Village Shelled With Cannon and Mortar 

It may be recalled that to start their operations to look for the suspects, more than 40 rounds of 105mm howitzers (photo below of similar cannons) and 80mm mortars shook a Moro village in Basilan as Philippine Marines backed up Philippine Police in serving the warrant of arrest to ten Abu Sayyaf militants found to have committed the dastardly act of beheading ten Marines the night after the bloody clash in Guinanta, AlBarka, this province on July 10, 2007.

The powerful pounding followed a late Monday afternoon clash between Marines and still unidentified armed group in Barangay Sungkayot, Pukan Ungkaya municipality, sending fresh number of civilians to flee from the battle scene. Taking the main brunt of the bombardment is sitio Boheh Marang, a village peopled mostly by ethnic Yakans.

The firefight lasted for 15 minutes, but no casualties were reported on either side.

The report said the Marines were conducting an aggressive ground patrol when they chanced upon a group of armed men in the said village.

Mixed Signals 

Sources said that,  the MILF has complained of mixed signals coming from the government: One; for the dropping of the case, after the MILF is cleared of the beheading and; Two, the Marines in tough stance of serving the warrant of arrest against some MILF members implicated in the case.

Jun Mantawil, head of the MILF peace panel secretariat, urged the government to adopt a unified position so as not to confuse the situation which might lead to more complex problem.

           

“It is not good to hear two signals coming from the same government,” he said.

Meanwhile, Von Al Haq, chairperson of the MILF Coordinating Committee on Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH), told Luwaran that the decision was clinched last night after both the government and MILF CCCHs, upon the express approval of the GRP and MILF peace panels, recommended that arrangement as the only workable formula given the tense situation in the island province.

Ceasefire Must Be Upheld 

The AFP is poised to attack the ASG, but the presence of hundreds of MILF fighters in the island created more problems than what the military action was trying to address. The MILF forces are fully armed and can hit back hard whenever attacked, but there is a ceasefire between the AFP and MILF which must be upheld by the parties at all times.

In a report reaching the media, the AFP had subjected at least two villages, Baguindan and Silnagkom, both in Tipo-Tipo, with savage 105mm bombardment. Some of the bombs were falling into MILF positions alarming the MILF fighters thinking that they are really the target of the military operations.

        The shelling lasted until about midnight Wednesday night.

The arrangement provided that both the AFP and MILF will provide contact persons who have direct access to their respective ground commanders. In the case of the MILF, Abbas Salung, member of the MILF CCCH, was tasked as the point man. It was not yet reported who will represent the AFT as of press time.

The IMT is also playing a direct role in the implementation of this special arrangement. IMT chief of mission Major Gen. Dato’ Ismail bin Ahmad Khan personally called Lt. Gen.(retired) Rodolfo Garcia, the new government chief peace negotiator, to seek his view on the proposal, who readily saw the wisdom of the plan. Khan in turn coordinated with MILF chief peace negotiator, Mohagher Iqbal, who expressed the same view.

Last update : 22-09-2007 18:10

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