Lanao Sur firefight linked to power woes

From the Manila Bulletin (Jul 13): Lanao Sur firefight linked to power woes

The armed encounter between government soldiers and suspected Moro rebels that killed two of the protagonists in Lanao del Sur on Friday was related to the stinging power outage issue that has gripped 27 towns in the province, according to initial investigations.

A soldier and a suspected member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) were killed in the firefight in a village bordering Marantao and Balindong towns, which Colonel Glen Macasero said was a “misinterpretation” of military presence in the area.

Macasero, commanding officer of 103rd Infantry Brigade, said troopers of the Army’s 51st and 65th Infantry Battalions where waiting in the area to escort journalists belonging to the TV-5 “Bitag” news team when fired upon by suspected MILF rebels at about 4 p.m. Friday.

An almost one-hour exchange of gunfire ensued, leaving a soldier and a rebel dead, and three others (two soldiers and a guerilla) wounded. The fighting stopped after officials engaged in monitoring and enforcing the truce between military and MILF forces arrived in the scene, civilian officials said Saturday.

The news team, which had initially featured in three parts over TV-5’s “Bitag” slot of the Tulfo brothers the power outage-spawned miseries of residents, was set to take follow-up footages in Madamba town when the unwarranted atrocity happened, a police intelligence investigator told the Manila Bulletin.

The scene, three towns away from Madamba, is known to have separate camps of the MILF, and a group of young extremists that called themselves “Ghurabah” or “strangers” advocating Khilafah ideology, an aspect of the international terror Jemmah Islamia movement, the intelligence officer said.

http://www.mb.com.ph/lanao-sur-firefight-linked-to-power-woes/