CLASHES AMID PEACE TALKS | Moro rebels' try to block highway foiled; earlier clashes kill 11

From InterAksyon (Jul 15): CLASHES AMID PEACE TALKS | Moro rebels' try to block highway foiled; earlier clashes kill 11

Government forces Monday were able to thwart attempts by renegade Moro rebels to block the Maguindanao portions of the Cotabato City-Gen. Santos City highway, an Army official said.

Colonel Dickson Hermoso, speaking for the 6th Infantry Division, said the rebels for the second day tried to establish road blockades in Barangay Bagan, Guindulungan, Maguindanao at 5 a.m. Monday.

On Saturday, the 2nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade also foiled attempts by about 500 Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) to take control of the highway in an effort to disrupt the peace and order situation in Maguindanao while peace talks between the GPH and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) were ongoing in Malaysia.

Hermoso said that while the Army successfully foiled the attempt, two soldiers perished and four others wounded in action while government forces clashed with the guerrillas.

Nine BIFF forces were killed and five others were hurt during the sporadic skirmishes Saturday and Sunday, Hermoso said.

Hermoso identified the slain infantrymen as Private First Class Rheonel Rey Agcaoili and Private First Class Richel Pangibitan, both of the 2nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade. Wounded were Cpl. Jonathan Mark Balajo, Cpl. Marlon Amay, Pfc. Reniel F. Regal, and Pfc. Ian Cajeta.

The four soldiers wounded in the attack are now undergoing medication at the 6th ID’s Camp Siongco in Barangay Awang, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao.

They were on their way to Barangay Kateman in Guindulungan from their command post when the bandits, positioned at one side of the road, fired assault rifles and rockets at their four-wheel drive light truck, triggering a gun battle.

Hermoso identified some of the slain BIFF rebels as Mastura Mutin, Taya Mama, and Zainudin Abdul. Three of them were arrested identified as James Abdul, Saddam Abdulatip, and Salahudin Abdulatip.

Soldiers confiscated from their possession one M-16 Armalite rifle with ammunition; rounds of Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs); and a motorcycle.

Hermoso said the rebels also attempted anew to occupy the highway but alert infantrymen prevented them from coming near the national road now guarded by four armored personnel carriers with mounted Cal. 60 machineguns.

He said government forces drove the rebels deep into the forest of Maguindanao.

Bakirin Sason, a resident of Guingulungan, told soldiers that the BIFF forces were running out of food supply and attempted to occupy the highway to conduct highway robbery targeting passenger bus and jeepneys.

Sason said the Muslim communities have been mad at the BIFF for conducting atrocities while they are observing the fasting month of Ramadhan.

"They are supposed to be praying but they are attacking soldiers and that displaces civilian communities during fasting," Hermoso quoted Sason as telling government forces.

Major General Romeo Gapuz, 6th ID chief, lauded the 2nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade for the aborted atrocities by BIFF along the highway.

He also led 6th ID officers and men in honoring the two slain soldiers who offered their lives to protect Muslim communities and the general public in Barangay Guindulungan, Maguindanao.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/66384/clashes-amid-peace-talks--moro-rebels-try-to-block-highway-foiled-earlier-clashes-kill-11