The founding chair of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic
Freedom Fighters (BIFF) is dead, rebel leaders and local officials today
confirmed.
Mohaqher Iqbal, chief negotiator of the MILF, said Uztadz
Ameril Umra Kato died at about 2 a.m. Tuesday. He could not say where.
"Our information was he passed away due to cardiac
arrest," Iqbal told reporters.
Mayor Samsodin Dimaukom of Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao
also confirmed the death of Kato.
Quoting Kato’s relatives and close allies, Dimaukom said the
BIFF founding chair suffered a cardiac arrest at 2:30 a.m. today in his hideout
in a remote village
of Guindulungan
“His relatives confirmed to me that he succumbed to cardiac
arrest,” Dimaukom said, adding that the 78 year old renegade leader also
suffered a mild stroke last two years ago.
Dimaukom said relatives and friends, including BIFF members,
are now attending to his remains in an undisclosed area in Guindulungan.
Kato will be buried within 24 hours from the time he died
according to Islamic tradition.
Dimaukom could not say where is the remain of Kato right now
nor where is his final resting place.
BIFF spokesperson Abu Misry Mama confirmed that the group’s
founding chair has died. He refused to reveal Kato’s location except saying the
area is far and that communication is difficult.
"I am on my way there to pay my last respect,"
Mama said in a phone interview.
Ustadz Wahid Tundok, commander of 118th base command of the
MILF, also confirmed reports that Kato, his former superior in the MILF 105th
base command, indeed passed away.
Maj. Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, commander of the 6th Infantry
Division based in Maguindanao, said he received reports about Kato's death but
it is being verified by his troops on the ground.
Kato, then head of MILF’s 105th base command, bolted from
the MILF and formed his BIFF to pursue the armed struggle for the establishment
of an Islamic State in Mindanao .
Dismayed by the botched signing of the GPH-MILF Memorandum
of agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) in 2008, Kato's men, then still with
the MILF, attacked Christian communities bordering Maguindanao and North Cotabato .
Kato was a foreign trained guerilla having fought side by
side with the Afgans against the Soviets in the 70s.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=752747
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