PIKIT, North Cotabato -- Police and social
welfare officers authorities found newly dug graves in the village of
Kabasalan, site of bloody skirmishes involving two Moro armed groups last week,
the town police chief said.
Senior Inspector Sindatu Karim, Pikit police chief, told
DXND Radyo Bida Kidapawan, said the graveyards were found in areas where the
Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front
(MILF) had a fierce firefight for a week.
"We do not know who were buried there, we did not touch
the sites because those were sacred," Karim said.
Military officials in North Cotabato
said at least 20 BIFF guerrillas were killed when the 7th Infantry Battalion
launched artillery offensives to liberate eight villages in Pikit and two
communities in Pagalungan, Maguinanao the BIFF occupied for more than a week.
While the Army and local officials have given the go signal
for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) to return home, many evacuees have
second thoughts of coming home due to trauma and fear.
The military's 7th Infantry Battalion gave the go signal
after it cleared the recaptured villages of unexploded ordnance.
Tahira Kalantongan, Pikit municipal disaster risk reduction
and management council officer, said many IPDs have returned home but some have
refused.
Karim denied police and military authorities recovered
firearms when they stepped in the village
of Kabasalan
Muslima Salik of Barangay Kabasalan and her family will
remain in evacuation sites in Pikit until she is certain its safe to return.
Salik's home was one of the many houses the BIFF attacked
and strafed on the February 14. Her valuables and food were taken by the armed
men.
Meanwhile, Jabib Guiabar, member of the MILF local
monitoring team, said the MILF central committee has created a special task
force to mediate and diplomatically settle the family feud involving MILF and
BIFF leaders.
BIFF Commander Gani Saligan and MILF Commander Jack Abas
were locked in a long standing family feud that triggered the clashes in the
borders of Maguindanao and North Cotabato .
Guiabar said the task force will be composed of
representatives from BIFF, MILF, local government unit of Pikit and Pagalungan
and representatives from the group of Commanders Jack Abas and Gani Saligan.
Military and local officials believed land and territorial
dispute was the root cause of BIFF, MILF clashes.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=739207
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