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| Photo edited by the Blogger |
ILIGAN CITY—The Moro
Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has opened one of its controlled areas in Lanao
del Sur province to evacuees from the weeklong fighting between government
troops and a group of armed men known to harbor extremist views.
The arrangement to
accommodate the evacuees in Barangay Sandab in Butig town was made through the
peace mechanisms set up by the government and the MILF, according to a
statement of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process
(Opapp).
Sandab village is a
stronghold of the MILF’s armed wing, the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces
(BIAF), and hosts a satellite office of its peace negotiating panel.
The Opapp statement
quoted Ameruddin Usman, a member of the MILF Coordinating Committee on
Cessation of Hostilities, as saying the hosting of the evacuees was coordinated
with the front commander in the area.
Usman said around 500
families were evacuated and secured in Barangay Sandab. He said more families
stayed with their relatives in other villages away from the encounter site.
Maj. Carlos Sol Jr.,
head of the government contingent in the joint ceasefire committee, said
Barangay Sandab has enough facilities, like school buildings, to serve as
temporary shelters for evacuees.
Apart from providing
sanctuary to evacuees, Sol said the continued cooperation between the
government and the MILF was shown by the BIAF’s decision to reposition its
troops in Butig to prevent clashing with Philippine Army troopers.
Sol said repositioning
BIAF elements was also aimed at giving government forces “the freedom to pursue
operations against the lawless group.”
The clashes in Butig, a
town in Lanao del Sur’s border with Maguindanao province, started on the night
of Feb. 20 when armed men attacked a detachment of government soldiers in
Barangay Bayabao. The fighting has spilled over to the nearby village of
Poktan.
The gunfights displaced
about 4,000 families, military reports said. Army officials said two soldiers
died from the clashes. While they claimed that at least 50 members of the armed
group were killed, only two bodies were recovered from the clash sites.
On Feb. 23, armed men
ambushed soldiers in an area between Tugaya and Balindong towns in what was
initially believed as an attack to divert military attention from Butig.
While the military did
not name the group behind the Butig attack, it said it is composed of “foreign
and local terrorists.”
But in Lanao del Sur,
they are called “Isis” as a reference to their harboring of extremist views of
jihad similar to what is espoused by the Middle Eastern terrorist network
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
A local commander of the
MILF in Lanao del Sur has denied the involvement of his troops in the recent
clashes in the province.
In a 59-second video
clip circulated on social media by the group called Free the Bangsamoro
Movement, Abdullah Macapaar, known as Commander Bravo, said the MILF was not
part of the fighting in Butig and Balindong towns.
“The MILF continues to
be a party to a peace process with the government, and as such, we in the
Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces of the Northwestern Mindanao Front, will
maintain our defensive posture,” Macapaar said.
He also brushed aside
reports linking him to an extremist group in Lanao del Sur.
“I remain loyal to the
MILF because its leader, Al Haj Murad Ebrahim, is a faithful follower of Allah
and the Prophet Mohammad,” Macapaar said.
Source : Inquirer.net
