Murder charge against MILF chief dropped

Mindanao: Prosecutors said the murder charges against Moro Islamic Liberation Front Chairman Murad Ebrahim and several other MILF commanders, over the death of six people in bomb attacks in the south last month, were dropped for lack of evidence.

Prosecutor Al Calica of Kidapawan City said that the evidence that linked Murad to the bomb attacks was "inadmissible because it was pure hearsay".

Six people were killed and 30 others injured in bomb blasts in a town in Cotabato on October 10. MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said the ruling reaffirmed the Front's position that Murad was not responsible for the bomb attacks in the south.

The MILF blamed the Philippine police for filing charges just to pressure Murad.

In their negotiations in Malaysia last month, the government and the MILF failed to agree on the number of villages that should be added to the existing Autonomous Region for Muslims in Mindanao (ARMM).

The government said only 613 Muslim-dominated villages should be part of the ARMM, but the rebel group wanted 1,000 more villages appended to the ARMM. The ARMM has five provinces and one city.

The two camps signed a ceasefire agreement in 2003, the implementation of which is being overseen by an international monitoring team in Mindanao.

In 2003, Malaysia, a member of the Organisation of Islamic Conference started to broker the talks.