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| Southeast Asia |
| Eid Kabalu denies any MILF killed in Filippino airstrikes |
| 2005-01-30 |
| Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) spokesman Eid Kabalu Saturday dismissed claims of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) that 48 rebels were killed in Thursday's encounter at the Butilan Marsh in Maguindanao. Kabalu said there were no bodies of rebels found since Thursday. He said two people were injured after they were hit by sub-machinegun fires but could not say for sure if they were Abu Sayyaf rebels or plain civilians. Kabalu said the body of the reported Indonesian national said to be a member of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) could not also be located. Colonel Jerry Jalandoni, chief of Army's 604th Brigade, meanwhile, said an estimated 48 rebels, including two alleged ranking Jemaah Islamiyah leaders, were among those killed in the military air strikes. He said his troops recovered seven mutilated bodies in the area. "Info from the locals said that most of the casualties are from the groups of Abu Sayyaf commanders Wahid, Aguila and Bagundali," Jalandoni said. Jalandoni identified the two JI members killed as one Dulmatin and Muhammad Ali alias Muwaya. Kabalu, on the other hand, added that representatives from the International Peace Monitoring Team and the Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities immediately rushed to the Butilan Marsh to investigate. However, the group is having a hard a time proceeding to the area because of its location and it is marshy, Kabalu said. The team is at the evacuation center in the area. He said everything is back to normal after Thursday's air strikes adding that no MILF rebel was killed in the latest strike. The military on Thursday claimed that five Muslim rebels, including an Indonesian suspected to be a member of the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah, were believed killed in a military air strike at their hideout in Maguindanao. Major General Raul Relano, chief of the Army's 6th Infantry Division, said a military intelligence report showed that the unidentified Indonesian was killed along with four Mulsim rebels after the bombing on their hideout in Butilan Marsh, Maguindanao Thursday. "The intelligence report said five were dead and three were wounded," said Relano. "The hazy report from our (intelligence) assets in the area said that one foreigner was among those dead." He said the foreigner is presumably one of several Indonesian Jemaah Islamiyah members hiding in the area with leaders of the local Abu Sayyaf group and a renegade leader of the MILF. Colonel Franklin del Prado, Army spokesman, said when the attack took place, among those believed to be in the area were Abu Sayyaf chief Khadaffy Janjalani and at least three Indonesian Jemaah Islamiyah members, including Dulmatin, who allegedly played a key role in the Bali bombings. Relano said a video of Thursday's operation showed the militants fleeing along the river on the marsh as their huts were hit by 250-pound bombs and rocket fire. The Philippine Air Force launched attacks after receiving intelligence information Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani and three Jemaah Islamiyah leaders were in the area. Meanwhile, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye in a statement posted at the government website www.ops.gov.ph said the military air strikes was directed against suspected terrorist elements and not the MILF. He said the military attack will not affect the peace talks between the government and the MILF. Bunye said the Joint Monitoring Team and the International Monitoring Team before properly notified before the air strike was launched. He said the fight against terrorism is not the government's alone by the MILF's as well. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 Ignore those piles of body parts, infidel. |
| Posted by: ed 2005-01-30 1:13:26 AM |