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Saturday, August 30, 2008
Bomb materials found inside MILF camp
DAVAO CITY -- Materials used in making improvised explosive device (IED) were found inside a camp of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Maguindanao Province.
Information gathered from the Army's 6th Infantry Division showed that chemicals used in making a bomb were found inside the residence of Kumander Ustadz Wahid Tundok at Camp Vietnam in Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao.
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Army's 6th ID spokesman Colonel Julieto Ando said the materials included five kilos of ammonium nitrate, four kilos C4, blasting cap, wirings and ammunition of 60 and 81mm mortars.
Kumander Ameril Umbra Kato of the 105th Base Command of the Lawless MILF Group is planning to launch several attacks in Central Mindanao, according to Army's 6th ID chief Major General Raymundo Ferrer.
He added that Kato have forged an alliance with Kumander Basit Usman, the team leader of locally recruited members of Jemaah Islamiyah.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu, however, denied the planned attacks, saying the rumors are only out to destroy the group's chain of command.
Shabu
According to Army's 601st Brigade chief Colonel Marlou Salazar, MILF men were using metamphetamine hydrochoride, known as shabu, during their armed battles with government troops since they also found the illegal drug inside the camp.
Government troops have finally overran the MILF main camp in Lanao del Norte, but MILF commander Abdullah Macapaar alias Kumander Bravo and his armed followers are nowhere in sight.
Lieutenant Colonel Jose Maria Cuerpo, spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Joint Force Mindanao, said Bravo's Bilal complex in Munai, Lanao del Norte was occupied by government forces around 6 p.m. of August 27.
He said not a single shot was fired by the MILF rebels during the assault on their camp.
Cuerpo said Bravo and his men must have fled from the camp as Army soldiers were inching their way into the complex.
Although the troops failed to get Bravo, military officials said the capture of the Bilal complex was "a very significant development" as the camp was "very symbolic for Bravo."
Lair
It is believed that Bravo has already returned to his lair in Lanao del Sur.
Cuerpo said the AFP will keep on tracking Bravo's trail until such time that he has nowhere to go but jail.
AFP chief of staff General Alexander Yano meantime assured the public that continued military operations until Ramadhan are not geared against the Muslim community.
"The operations are directed only against the perpetrators of un-Islamic acts. Tactical adjustments will be made to strike a balance between the enforcement of the law and allowing the proper observances of religious practices during the month of Ramadhan," Yano said.
He added that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had assured "that appropriate support will be extended to those at the evacuation centers so that they too can observe Ramadhan unhampered." (Edgardo Fuerzas and Ben Tesiorna of Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro. (August 30, 2008 issue)
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