COTABATO CITY, Philippines – The military has claimed capturing two major camps of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Maguindanao province.
Troops from the 64th and 46th Infantry Battalions were conducting clearing operations in the two camps in Datu Saudi Ampatuan town, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Ponce, 6th Infantry Division spokesperson, said Wednesday.
The two MILF camps yielded around 20 firearms believed to be hidden by MILF field Commander Ombra Kato, chief of the 105th base command.
Kato and his followers have been tagged "lawless elements" in the MILF, which government troops are pursuing for leading attacks on civilian communities in Central Mindanao after the scuttled signing of an agreement between the government and the MILF for the setting up of a semi-independent Bangsamoro state in August 2008.
Ponce said the Army believed the MILF regulars who occupied the camp hurriedly left when they noticed government forces backed by armored personnel carriers advancing.
“They changed their uniforms into civilian clothes and mingled with the evacuees,” Ponce said, citing a report from Colonel Menardo Geslani, 601st Infantry Brigade chief.
Geslani said the abandoned enclaves were those in the villages Pamalian and Dapyawan, scene of fierce firefighting in 2008 between Moro rebels and government forces.
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