HERE IS A MILF ( but I am married so she will remain a milf)
Posted on 04/24/2003 4:25:54 PM PDT by miltonim
MILF attacks 2 police sites in Lanao, kills 2, takes hostages
By BUTCH D. ENERIO TODAY Correspondent
ILIGAN CITY, Lanao del Norte - Hundreds of Muslim rebels attacked two police detachments near a highway in Lanao del Norte on Thursday, taking at least four officers hostage and killing two civilians, the military said.
About 500 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels also bombed a bridge, then commandeered a passenger bus and a cargo truck and used the vehicles to block the highway in Lanao del Norte’s Colambugan town, 780 km southeast of Manila.
The driver of the bus and a female passenger were killed when the rebels fired at the vehicle, said 1st Sgt. Dioscoro Jumamil, intelligence officer of the army’s 52nd Light Armored Company. It wasn’t immediately clear how many passengers were on the bus. Ten civilians were treated for injuries.
The military said that the Moro rebels scattered across Maigo and Colambugan towns and harassed police detachments in barangay Kulasihan, Colambugan, and in Poblacion Maigo.
The rebels also bombed the Baroison bridge leaving a hole at the center, the military added, although the bridge did not collapse and is still passable. “Until such time we can ascertain it is safe for vehicles to pass, we have to render it [bridge] impassable.”
Government troops responding to the incident engaged the rebels in a running gun battle which started about 6:30 a.m. until midday Thursday.
The military said that the heavy firefight between the rebels and the government troops waned about 10 a.m. Sniper fires continued at press time making government soldiers to fully take control of the area to be able to evacuate the wounded and assess the damage caused by the attacks. However, reports said that the wounded passengers were rescued right away by the residents of Maigo, who witnessed the incident.
Col. Ernesto Boac, 401st Brigade commander, said that the hostilities started about 6 a.m. when the MILF rebels belonging to the 3rd and 5th Divisions of the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces opened fire at a Rural Transit Bus when the driver did not stop when it was flagged down.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu acknowledged the rebels carried out the attack, saying it was part of ongoing battles that began when the military launched a major offensive in February. But he denied the rebels took any hostages and claimed they only blocked the highway “to prevent civilians from passing there and getting caught in the crossfire.”
Kabalu also denied the bus driver was killed. He claimed he was able to talk to the driver through a local radio station and that the driver told him he saw the rebels kill a soldier.
A rebel commander who claimed responsibility for the attack called a local radio station and said his 3,000 rebels were holding 300 civilians hostage. But the military quickly denied the claim by Abdulrahman Macapaar, also known as Commander Bravo.
Jumamil said the rebels had about 500 men and were holding four police hostage. It wasn’t clear why there were different accounts of the attack.
The 12,000-strong MILF has been fighting for almost three decades to establish an Islamic state in the southern Philippines. Despite intermittent peace talks, fighting occasionally flares up.
I better have a look - scientific purposes only - of course . . .
BTW, my personal MILF would be Pat Wynn aka Aunt Judy.
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