AFP: Pentagon gang in Cotabato jail attack

The Philippine military confirmed on Tuesday claims by a separatist group that the dreaded Pentagon kidnap gang was behind last week's attack on the Cotabato provincial jail which resulted in the escape of over 40 inmates, including three suspected bombers. Quoting from Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr, military information chief Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said: "Its confirmed that the Pentagon group was behind the attack on the Cotabato provincial jail." But Bacarro could not ascertain whether the Moro Islamic Liberation Front's (MILF) claim that Pentagon leader Tahir Alonto led the attack is accurate. "We are still validating that information," Bacarro said. He said troops under Task Force Cotabato have already cleared the Midsayap-Datu Piang road from lawless elements in government's pursuit against the attackers and the escapees. "This (clearing operation) was done with the assistance of the MILF and the IMT (International Monitoring Team)," Bacarro said, adding that the MILF is also helping troops in going after the attackers and the fugitives. The military had said that Alonto died following an airstrike at the Liguasan Marsh on Aug. 13, 2004. At the time, the AFP released a press statement which said that residents of Midpandakan village in Salipada Pendatun town in Maguindanao province informed elements of the 6th Infantry Division on Alonto's supposed death. "Pentagon gang leader Tahir Alonto and fifteen (15) of his men were killed during an air raid on his hideout at said place," the AFP said in a press statement. "Revelations given by Philippine Air Force pilots who conducted the air raid disclosed that the house of Tahir Alonto burst into flames when explosives inside the house were hit by machine gun fire and rockets from their aircraft," it said. The AFP also said that their operatives were told that the bodies of Alonto and his 15 followers were immediately buried in the evening of that same day at Sitio Tatak also in the same village. The MILF said video clips of the August 2004 operations in Liguasan Marsh showed Alonto and scores of civilians subjected to air operations which used "precision rockets." "Alonto did not die in that operations, but until this time, the military has not admitted openly that Alonto is alive – and still dangerous," it said. - GMANews.TV