Crackdown on rebels displaces thousands in southern Philippines

Manila: About 58 people died and 19,481 were displaced as government forces launched air strikes and ground assaults starting Monday on renegade rebel groups both in Zamboanga Sibugay and Basilan in the southern Philippines, a senior official told Gulf News.

The number of displaced could further rise as clashes have already affected 30 villages, nine in Al Barka in Basilan, 21 in Zamboanga Sibugay, Undersecretary Benito Ramos, head of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) told Gulf News.

Safer areas

Of the 19,481 displaced residents, 9,003 went to stay with their relatives in safer areas while the rest, 10,478, were in evacuation centres that the social welfare department and local government offices established in hard-hit villages in Alicia, Zamboanga Sibugay and in Al Barka, Basilan, Ramos said.

Abdul Kahulabdasal, a 53-year-old civilian, was killed while his family prepared to rush to an evacuation centre in Basilan. Four other civilians were killed in Alicia, Zamboanga Sibugay, but their names were not released. One civilian was reported missing also in Zamboanga Sibugay, Ramos said.

Civilians

More civilians could get caught in the crossfire between the clashing forces as the government, renegade rebel forces and a terrorist group intensified three-cornered clashes at the two flashpoints from Monday to yesterday, Ramos added.

Earlier, five other civilians, four plantation workers and one pro-government paramilitary man were killed in Upper Cabengbeng, Sumisip town in Basilan on Sunday, five days after clashes began in Al Barka, Basilan.

From Monday to Tuesday, the number of people killed reached 14: five civilians (four in Zamboanga Sibugay and one in Basilan), six renegade members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) (in Zamboanga Sibugay), and three government soldiers (in Zamboanga Sibugay and Taluksangay, Zamboanga).

Renegade commander

Meanwhile, the government said that the MILF has already disowned a renegade commander, Wanning Abdul Salam, identified as responsible for the killing of eight government troops in three ambushes in Zamboanga Sibugay last Thursday. He has been the target of government air strikes and ground attacks which began in four towns in Zamboanga Sibugay last Monday, a regional paper said.

"The MILF [has] now claimed that Abdul Salam is not their member and that several others [who are] being pursued by the authorities are notorious outlaws and kidnappers," said Army Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang.