The military bolstered its forces in the southern Philippines yesterday, anticipating fresh Muslim rebel attacks after a guerrilla rampage killed at least 37 people and displaced about 44,000.
A senior army general said additional security forces were deployed to prevent a repeat of Monday’s carnage, when about 200-500 Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas cut off a main highway and raided up to five coastal towns in Lanao del Norte province.
The rebels burned houses and shot or hacked to death civilians and took others captive. In all, 33 civilians, at least three soldiers and a policeman were killed, said regional police director Teodorico Capuyan.
The retreating rebels took 63 hostages as human shields but later released them in the next town, Tangcal, police spokesman Nicanor Bartolome said.
The national disaster agency said about 44,000 people were displaced, most of them taking refuge in 19 evacuation centers in nearby Iligan and Ozamiz cities.
Brigadier General Antonio Supnet, head of an army brigade that flushed out the rebels, said the attackers were being treated as “criminals and we will go after them anywhere.”
Kolambugan Mayor Beltran Lumaque said residents “were killed as they were sighted.”
Along a sidewalk in the town, the bodies of two-year-old Love-love and her father, Francisco Sosima Jr, 30, lay wrapped in a dirty bedsheet, surrounded by grieving relatives and onlookers.
“When they heard the gunshots, they tried to go up the stairs but they were hit by gunfire,” said a relative, Lolita Amomonpol. “They were fired upon by the rebels.”
She said the town was asleep when the rampage started.
“My child was also hit in the neck and was taken to a hospital but he’s with me now,” she said.
In the neighboring town of Kauswagan, police chief Nestor Ortiz said the rebels had regrouped in nearby mountainous hinterland and security forces were keeping a close watch on them.
“We haven’t had any sleep. We deployed near the highway and the perimeter of the town ... so they could not enter again,” he said.
Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu said Monday’s attack was carried out by a key commander, Abdullah Macapaar, also known as Bravo, without the knowledge of the group’s leadership. He said yesterday that Bravo will “face the consequence of his action” but did not elaborate.
Kabalu said the rebels were frustrated after the Supreme Court — acting on a petition filed by Christian politicians wary of losing land and power — blocked a preliminary agreement with the rebels calling for an expanded Muslim autonomous region.
In Iligan, Lanao del Norte’s provincial capital and industrial center of 300,000 people, authorities imposed a 10pm-5am curfew and suspended schools because of bomb threats and the unstable security situation.
The military deployed tanks in the city, and air force helicopters flew overhead.
Police forces in Manila were also placed on full alert. Special action troops were being deployed to the south from the north.
“We are now looking at certain major cities and towns that are vulnerable and possible targets and we are right now in the process of securing these places,” said Brigadier General Jorge Segovia, head of the military’s command center.
Chief rebel negotiator Mohaqher Iqbal said if nothing came out of the current peace process with the government, the guerrillas would return to war.
The 11,000-strong rebels have been fighting for Muslim self-rule in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation for decades, and signed a 2003 ceasefire with the government. But a series of violent attacks in the south has raised doubts over peace prospects.
On Sunday, rebel forces attacked an army convoy, killing four soldiers and four militiamen. Several homemade bombs were defused last week, and three explosions on Sunday rocked hotels in Iligan, wounding three people.
Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said the government sympathized with rebel leaders who cannot control their “renegade elements.” But he warned it may reconsider the peace process if the attacks continue.
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