MILITARY
ATTACKS CAMP RAJAMUDACOTABATO, (ABS-CBN)
- The military attacked a major Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) camp in Maguindanao
on Wednesday, hours after a high-ranking military official was ambushed in the area.
Air Force planes, augmented by two Army battalions, dropped bombs and
rockets on Camp Rajamuda at the boundary of Maguindanao and North Cotabato.
The camp, which is believed to be occupied by about 500 rebels, is one of
two remaining major MILF camps in the southern Mindanao region.
The other major camp, Camp Abubakar, has been largely untouched since the
military launched a major offensive against the rebels about two months ago.
The attack on Camp Rajamuda came several hours after a convoy of division
commander Maj. Gen. Gregorio Camiling was ambushed by MILF guerrillas in Shariff Aguak,
Maguindanao, at about 5:35 a.m., Wednesday.
Camiling was unhurt in the ambush, but one soldier was wounded and one
Simba armored vehicle was damaged.
Last Friday, two civilians were killed and nine soldiers were wounded
during fighting along the highway linking Cotabato City and Davao City, while hundreds of
travelers were stranded for about seven hours after government troops closed the road.
Meanwhile, soldiers found dozens of decomposing bodies of MILF guerrillas
in another rebel camp, Jabal Nur in Marugong, Lanao del Sur province which was overrun by
the military on Monday.
Major Johnny Macanas, spokesman of the Army's 4th Infantry Division, said
the camp was being used by the rebels to replenish their supplies and ammunition.?
At least 184 government soldiers and militiamen were killed and more than
680 wounded in clashes since January, in what the military consider the most serious
fighting in the southern Mindanao region since the height of the Muslim rebellion in the
1970's.
(With a report from the Associated Press)
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