Military tags ‘rogue’ MILF in Cotabato blast Jocelyn Uy Philippine Daily Inquirer
July 05, 2009
MANILA, Philippines -- The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Sunday pointed to rogue fighters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front as responsible for the bombing near a cathedral in Cotabato City that killed four people and wounded scores others.
The bombing bore the signature of the MILF as the explosive, believed to be a 60-millimeter or 81-millimeter mortar ammunition, was "command-detonated," AFP spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner Jr. said.
But Sundays attack had no connection with the series of bomb-related incidents in Metro Manila, which the military earlier blamed on two main groups with "political ambitions" and a "grand scheme" to destabilize the government, Brawner said.
"Its plain terrorism by the special operations group of the MILF and we condemn this attack on innocent civilians," Brawner told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net) by phone Sunday.
The military's official count as of press time showed that there were four fatalities in the bombing and 45 people injured.
One of the three killed in the incident was an Army militiaman while the wounded included four other militiamen and two soldiers, said Army spokesperson Lt. Col. Arnulfo Burgos from Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City.
Brawner said there was a possibility that the rogue Moro fighters had deliberately targeted the troops from the 38th Infantry Battalion on board an Isuzu Elf, who happened to pass by the bomb site.
"We cannot say that this is a religious war. If they deliberately targeted the church, they could have placed it inside," Brawner pointed out.
The bombing in Cotabato City occurred almost 14 hours after an explosion rocked downtown Datu Piang in Maguindanao province on Saturday, wounding three civilians.
The MILF was responsible for both explosions, said Col. Jonathan Ponce, spokesperson of the 6th Infantry Division.
"Both bombings are connected because the bombs had an MILF signature...they have the capability to make these improvised explosive devices as they have been trained by foreign bombers, by the Jemaah Islamiyah," said Ponce.
But in its website, the MILF hinted that the military was behind the bombing in Datu Piang as part of its effort to turn Moro people against each other and make the MILF responsible for the disorder in the area.
The military, according to its website, was allegedly using "dirty tactics" against the MILF for its failure to defeat its base command under wanted Commander Ombra Kato in Maguindanao.
