Headline News

http://news.inq7.net/breaking/index.php?index=2&story_id=27367

MLNF Bang!

Gov't sends troops to crush Jolo rebels, 3 soldiers killed
Posted 04:03pm (Mla time) Feb 13, 2005
By Mynardo Macaraig
Agence France-Presse (3RD UPDATE)

The government on Sunday sent hundreds more troops to the southern island of Jolo to crush a week-old rebellion by Muslim separatists, as the latest clashes left three soldiers dead and 13 wounded. A battalion of infantry, comprising about 500 soldiers, arrived at the port of Jolo aboard a landing craft early Sunday to reinforce six army and marine battalions and one army special forces company on the mainly Muslim island. Later in the day, more than 500 heavily armed troops boarded the landing craft which set off for another part of the island. The troops refused to comment on their mission.

The military said its forces had surrounded about 100 gunmen loyal to jailed Muslim politician Nur Misuari after six days of clashes that left more than 70 dead. Officials said the fighting also displaced up to 13,000 civilians in several towns on the island of about 400,000 people. Three soldiers were killed on Saturday in the latest skirmish near the town of Panamao, said southern military chief Lieutenant General Alberto Braganza.

The commander of an army battalion in the area, Major Manuel Sison, was among the 13 soldiers injured, he told reporters. The previous commander of the battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Dennis Villanueva, was killed in the clashes last week. Security sources say the fighting has left at least 25 soldiers and more than 50 rebels dead. An armored troop carrier unloaded three body bags at a military hospital in the provincial capital Jolo on Sunday.

The boom of artillery fire was heard in the capital, while an attack helicopter circled in the sky east of Jolo in the direction of Panamao. "We have a minimal number of casualties as we expand control of the area," said Brigadier General Agustin Dema-ala, commander of a joint anti-terrorism task force. "We are still encountering resistance but the situation is manageable," he said. Fighting continued to rage in a forested area in the so-called Bitan-ag complex in the eastern section of the island but the troops still had the upper hand, the general added.

Dema-ala said enemy casualties in fighting Sunday were "many" but would not give a figure. "Some have fled after they ran out of food and ammunition and after they failed to get reinforcements" from local people, he added. Regional police chief Sukarno Ikbala said that despite the fighting in the Bitan-ag complex, the rest of the island was largely peaceful. "The situation is improving. There may be some problems but things are looking better," he said.

In the town of Patikul which was the scene of fighting last week, one of the claimants to the sultanate of Sulu, Ibrahim Bahjin Shakirullah, went ahead with a pomp-filled coronation ceremony without incident. Fighting broke out on Monday last week after Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) forces attacked troops on Jolo to avenge what they claimed was a military operation that killed local civilians including children. The government had earlier said the gunmen want Misuari, currently in jail in Manila on charges of armed rebellion, to be moved to a prison on Jolo. Misuari founded the MNLF in the early 1970s to fight for an independent Islamic state in the south of the mainly Catholic country. A faction split from Misuari in 1978 to form the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Misuari and the MNLF in 1996 signed a peace treaty with Manila under which he later became governor of a Muslim autonomous region in the south. But the government refused to endorse his demand for a second term, leading Misuari to mount a new rebellion in Jolo in 2001. The Misuari forces were crushed in a little over a day and Misuari fled to Malaysia, where he was arrested and deported. Note: forwarded message attached.

Bombs continue to rain down on MNLF rebels Posted 06:13pm (Mla time) Feb 13, 2005 By Joselle d.R. BadillaInquirer News Service Get INQ7 breaking news on your Smart mobile phone in the Philippines.

DAVAO CITY -- The military continues to rain down bombs on Muslim separatist Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) gunmen now holed up between Panamao and Maimbung towns in Sulu province.Lieutenant Colonel Restituto Padilla, Air Force spokesperson, said there were no immediate reports of any casualties on the rebels' side.

The military's casualty figure stands at three soldiers killed and 13 others wounded, including Major Emmanuel Sison, the new commander of the 53rd Infantry Battalion.Padilla said on Sunday afternoon that an OV-10 bomber plane, dropped another 260-pound bomb bringing to three the total number of bombs dropped on Sunday.

It was in Panamao battlefield that Lt. Col. Dennis Villanue son of Retire Fiscal Villanueva here in Oroquieta was hit by srapnel of mortar fire from the MNLF was killed together with 10 of his men. He was the Batallion Commander.

Forwarded by Helen Conol-Villaruel & Dr. Emerico Conol