A screen grab of MNLF chieftain Nur Misuari, center, and his aides Ustadz Khabir Malik and Khiad Ajibun during a plenum in southern Philippines. And his ATM card recovered by troops. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)
A top Moro National Liberation Front commander Khabir Malik, who led rebel forces in the assault in Zamboanga City, may have already escaped from a military dragnet and rejoined his forces in the southern Philippines, one intelligence source told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
Malik, a trusted aide of MNLF chieftain Nur Misuari, led about 200 rebels who stormed Zamboanga on September 9 to exert their rights to self-determination. He reportedly escaped on a speedboat with his trusted men and left behind a rag-tag army of fighters to hold off advancing security forces.
It was not immediately known whether Malik - who is facing rebellion charges along with his men - has returned to Sulu province or sought safe refuge in nearby Basilan province. The report cannot be independently confirmed, but security officials, quoting former hostages freed by rebels said Malik is trapped in Zamboanga’s Santa Catalina village.
Malik, a veteran MNLF fighter, had previously taken hostage more than a dozen soldiers, including Marine General Benjamin Dolorfino, in 2007 in Sulu province.
Rebel forces under Malik and Khaid Ajibun held Dolorfino and Defense Undersecretary Ramon Santos and 23 soldiers and staff of Presidential peace adviser, Secretary Jesus Dureza and demanded the release of Misuari, who was then being detained in Manila on rebellion charges.
Misuari signed a peace deal with the Philippine government in September 1996, ending more than 20 years of bloody fighting in Mindanao.
After the peace agreement was signed, Misuari became the governor of Muslim autonomous region. But many former rebels were disgruntled with the accord, saying, the government failed to comply with some of its provisions and uplift their standards of living.
They accused the government of failing to develop the war-torn areas in the South, which remain in mired in poverty, heavily militarized and dependent financially on Manila.
In November 2001, on the eve of the elections in the autonomous region, Misuari accused the government of reneging on the peace agreement, and his followers launched a new rebellion in Sulu and Zamboanga City, where more than 100 people were killed.
Misuari escaped by boat to Malaysia, but was arrested there and deported to the Philippines. He was eventually freed in 2008 after Manila dropped all charges against him for lack of sufficient evidence.
He was last reported moving from one island to another in Sulu archipelago to escape detection by security forces and has been in hiding since last month after police threatened to slap sedition charges against him.
Sporadic clashes still continue in Zamboanga with authorities saying the rebels now were low on food and ammunition after troops captured several key positions in Santa Barbara village which had been previously held by the MNLF forces.
The military said at least 78 rebels had been killed and over 130 others who were either captured or surrendered since the fighting began. Fifteen soldiers and policemen were also slain in the clashes and at least 126 more wounded.
The fighting forced over 100,000 people to flee their homes for fear they would be caught in the crossfire or captured by rebels and use as shield against military forces. Nearly 180 peopled taken by rebels had been freed or rescued by troops, but about two dozen more are still in the hands of the gunmen.
http://mindanaoexaminer.blogspot.com/2013/09/veteran-mnlf-commander-escapes.html
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.