Monday, October 7, 2013

MILF: AFP troops attack MILF forces, fire mortars indiscriminately in Basilan town

From the MILF Website (Oct 8): AFP troops attack MILF forces, fire mortars indiscriminately in Basilan town



Composite troops of the Philippine Army launched a sneaky attack against forces of the 114th Base Command of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces – Moro Islamic Liberation Front (BIAF) this morning at Upper Cabengbeng in Sumisip Basilan.
   
Troops of the 18th IB and 64th IB under Col Galvez and Scout Rangers attacked the forces of Hadji Hassan Asnawi at passed 8am. Firefight ensued and ceased at around 11am.

The indiscriminate mortar shelling by the Philippine Army only stopped at around 3pm that also hit civilian communities and forced evacuations to safer grounds.

However, at around 4pm, several rounds of mortars were fired again by the Philippine Army.

Abbas Salung, Chairman of the MILF Ceasefire Committee, who is also a native of Basilan, conveyed that he had been calling for immediate ceasefire but it would seem the Col Galvez was recalcitrant.

“We could not understand why the attack was irresponsibly conducted against our forces and the shelling not being stopped,” Salung said. 

“The government forces assaulted our troops and bombarded civilian communities. These are utter violations of the government and MILF ceasefire accord and agreement on the civilian protection, human rights and international humanitarian laws by Philippine Army troops,” Salung said.

“This is not the first time that Col Galvez undermined the ceasefire accord and the primacy of the peace process between the government and MILF,” Chairman Salung said.

Salung appealed to Galvez to fully respect the ceasefire and the mechanisms on the ground in order and not to create problems on the ground to ensure that the peace process will be protected and promoted.

Rasid Ladiasan, Head of the Secretariat of the MILF CCCH, conveyed that the MILF CCCH is going to file a protest on the violations on the ceasefire agreement and on the indiscriminate mortar shelling.

“We hope that the attack was not meant to sabotage the peace process between the government and MILF,” he said.
http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/welcome/item/595-afp-troops-attack-milf-forces-fire-mortars-indiscriminately-in-basilan-town

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