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Diabetes, not bullet, killed commander of Zambo City attack,  MNLF claims


Diabetes, not a bullet, killed a ground commander of the Nur Misuari faction of the Moro National Liberation Front that attacked Zamboanga City last September, the MNLF spokesperson claimed on Friday.

Habier Malik, who was being hunted for his role in the attack, survived armed confrontations with government troops but was wounded in the three-week hostilities that killed over 200 rebels, dozens of soldiers and civilians.

"He died not of the wound but of the complications on the wound because of his diabetes," MNLF spokesperson Reverend Absalom Cerveza told GMA News Online on Friday.

"Hindi siya namatay sa bala, namatay siya sa diabetes...," he said.

Although he did not know when exactly Malik died, Cerveza said he got the information on Malik's death two weeks ago from still "unverified" but "reliable" source from Jolo, Sulu.

But military spokesperson lieutenant colonel Ramon Zagala said their information indicated Malik died in an encounter in Zamboanga city.

"Officially, we do not have confirmation (on Cerveza's claims). We know that Malik died during the attack in Zamboanga City," Zagala told GMA News Online.

If Cerveza's claims were true, Malik still died of his wounds from (military's) "calibrated response" to the attack, Zagala said.

A military official earlier said Malik was killed in an encounter with troops, while another said Malik's ID was found on the body of a slain rebel whose physical features resembled him. But the Philippine National Police later dismissed the possibility that the body was Malik's.

The absence of any information on Malik two months after the attack compelled defense secretary Voltaire Gazmin to say that the MNLF commander is "obviously dead."

Malik is one of the five commanders of the MNLF forces that attacked parts of the city and held residents hostage for nearly three weeks. The other four were either killed, captured, or surrendered, Zagala said.

The MNLF attacked the city in an independence bid, on claims the government sidelined them in a peace deal when Manila signed a framework agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a breakaway group of the MNLF.

The government has denied the allegations.

After the siege, the government oredered the arrest of MNLF founding chairman Nur Misuari and over 270 followers for rebellion and violation of International Humanitarian Law.

Misuari has remained at large almost four months after the attack. Zagala said the MNLF chairman is still in Sulu.

Misuari was supposed to attend the 40th Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers session in Guinea, West Africa last December, but he was confirmed absent.

Cerveza said Misuari was on his way to the OIC until he encountered "problems." — LBG, GMA News

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