The commander of a new Muslim rebel faction warned yesterday of retaliation if either his jungle-based forces in the southern Philippines or his former rebel group were attacked by government troops now that the Islamic holy month of Ramadan has ended.
Ameril Umbra Kato said he ordered hundreds of his men in his mountain stronghold in Maguindanao Province to take defensive positions after Ramadan ended on Tuesday.
Kato said his armed followers in at least two other southern provinces could also retaliate if he were assaulted.
“We have no plans to create trouble, but we have the right to self-defense,” Kato said by telephone from his hide-out in Maguindanao, a violent Muslim region 950km southeast of Manila.
Philippine authorities have offered a reward of 10 million pesos (US$238,000) for the capture of Kato, who has been blamed for launching deadly attacks on Christian communities in the country’s volatile south in 2008 after talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front collapsed.
The Moro rebel group expelled Kato on Aug. 18 after months of trying to woo him and his men back. He resigned from the group last December, criticizing his former comrades for engaging in peace talks with the Philippine government.
Kato said he notified his former insurgent group in an Aug. 19 letter that he had formed a new group, called the Bangsamoro Islamic Liberation Movement, of which he was the chairman. His group has an armed wing, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, which is estimated to number between 200 and 300 fighters.
Kato, who used to lead his former group’s largest and most battle-tested command, said he and many other rebels left because of the Moro rebel organization’s alleged links to kidnappings for ransom and drug trafficking.
“It’s no longer jihad, it’s business,” Kato said.
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