10 suspected MILF members killed in Shariff Aguak firefight

KIDAPAWAN CITY — AT least 10 members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) were believed killed and six others were wounded in a gun battle with government troops in a remote village in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao last Thursday, belated reports from the Army said. Lt. Gerard Dennis Lonesa, chief of the civil military operations of the 45th Infantry Battalion, which is based in Poblacion, Shariff Aguak, said the bodies had been abandoned by fleeing rebels in the village of Bako as they withdrew towards the marsh. The troops recovered seven M16 Armalite rifles from the area. Lonesa said the troops led by 1st Lt. Jethro Agbing and 2nd Lt. Julius Ellezo had been conducting patrol operations in Bako when they chanced upon some 100 armed men believed to be members of the 105th base command of the Ba Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) of the MILF. Lonesa said the troops had engaged the rebels in a firefight that lasted five hours. "The rebels tried to consolidate their forces and attempted to retrieve their casualties and reinforce their forces," Lonesa said. No casualty was reported on the government side. Lt. Col. Gene Ponio, battalion commander of the 45th Infantry Battalion, said the rebels had insisted on crossing the prescribed boundaries that they declared during peace negotiations with the government. Bako in Shariff Aguak, according to Lonesa, is about a kilometer away from the Army detachment of the 45th Infantry Battalion. "This shows a gross violation of the agreement," Ponio said. — Malu Cadelina Manar/NPA, GMANews.TV