Abu Sayyaf Group, MILF tagged in southern Philippine deadly ambush
But authorities have not mentioned the motive for the attack.
BASILAN: The Abu Sayyaf terror group (ASG) and a former rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), have been tagged by the Philippine police in a deadly ambush against a convoy of security forces escorting a town vice mayor in the southern province of Basilan.
The tagging came days after the MILF surrendered two of their fighters on August 17 who were involved in the August 12 ambush of Vice Mayor Ahmadin Barahim in Ungkaya Pukan town's Ulitan village.
Barahim was unhurt in the attack, but two security personnel were killed and seven other troops in his entourage were wounded in the ambush.
"The victims from 64th Infantry Battalion and Joint Peace Security Team Sumisip, who are on board a [military truck] and white Toyota Hilux vehicle, were ambushed by the identified seven MILF-BIAF (Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces) and ASG members using assorted high-powered firearms," said the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (Barmm) police chief, Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, in a statement.
"The Police Regional Office BAR (PRO-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region) collectively condemns this act of lawlessness and aggression displayed by these lawless individuals. This outraging incident, which has a detrimental impact on civilian lives in the area, their safety and their well-being, will not be taken lightly by this PRO.”
Nobleza said police had filed murder charges and multiple murder charges against the attackers.
The revelation bolstered suspicion that some people in the MILF and the ASG have forged an alliance in Basilan and that the MILF is harbouring the local terrorist group allied with the Islamic State, according to a news report.
"The PRO…assures a speedy resolution of this case. Rest assured that at the soonest possible time, all involved in this incident will be dealt with accordingly and that justice shall be served to the victims of this atrocity," Nobleza said.
Brig. Gen. Alvin Luzon, the commander of the army’s 101st Infantry Brigade in Basilan province, in an earlier statement, said the MILF surrendered two of the ambushers — Mudzni Sapau, 27, and Adzmin Manjapal, 20.
He said Malik Caril and Sammad Ahaddin, members of the MILF Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities, and Abdurahman Rajan, deputy commander of the MILF's 114th Base Command in the province, handed over the ambushers.
A local reporter said his attempt to learn the motive of the ambush from a multiagency military command, the Western Mindanao Command, was futile, but the town is a major stronghold of the MILF and the ASG in Basilan, one of six provinces under the Muslim autonomous region.