MILF holds dozens of elite soldiers hostage in the Philippines

Posted to the Mindanao Examiner (Feb 9, 2023): MILF holds dozens of elite soldiers hostage in the Philippines

COTABATO CITY - The former rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) held hostage 39 elite army soldiers in Lanao del Sur province in southern Philippines and released them a day later after security officials negotiated for their freedom.

The MILF, which signed a peace deal with Manila in 2014, captured the soldiers who are members of the Special Forces, in the village of Dilimbayan in Maguing town.

The soldiers were all disarmed and brought them to an MILF camp on Tuesday afternoon, February 7, where heavily armed men guarded them throughout the night.

The soldiers, part of a group that stormed a communist rebel base near the town, were returning to their rendezvous when MILF forces surrounded and captured them.

Members of the government’s ceasefire committee negotiated with their MILF counterpart and successfully recovered the soldiers after their release on Wednesday, February 8.

It was unclear whether MILF gunmen returned the weapons they seized from the Special Forces soldiers.

The Western Mindanao Command in Zamboanga City has not released any report on the disgraceful incident, saying the soldiers belong to the Eastern Mindanao Command in Davao City, but security officials there also did not report the troops’ capture.

The MILF, whose leader is Murad Ebrahim, the current governor of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, has not released a statement on the incident. (Mindanao Examiner)

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