Arroyo Claims Victory Over MILF

"The punitive military actions against the terrorist attackers…have been dislodged from their bases and dispersed into ragtag groups," Arroyo said

MANILA, May 26 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - President Gloria Arroyo declared victory Monday, May 26, in a 10-day-old military campaign against "terrorist cells" allegedly sheltered by the largest Muslim separatist group in the southern Philippines.

"The punitive military actions against the terrorist attackers of Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte and Maigo, Lanao del Norte have been dislodged from their bases and dispersed into ragtag groups being run to the ground by the government troops," she said in a speech.

"The investigation into the Davao and Koronadal bombings is bearing fruit with the arrest of the perpetrators of these and even previous terrorist attacks," she added.

Arroyo had ordered crackdown on Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) units she blamed for deadly bombings and raids on the Mindanao island shortly before her state visit to the United States on May 17.

She warned the 12,500-member MILF, waging a campaign to set up an Islamic state in the southern third of the mainly Roman Catholic Philippines, of allegedly giving succor to "terrorist cells", reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Arroyo threatened MILF to surrender the suspected bombers and raiders responsible for nearly 100 deaths and to renounce alleged ties to foreign terror groups by June 1 or be branded as a "terrorist organization."

The MILF refuted any links to the al-Qaeda or any other groups, including the local Abu Sayyaf kidnap for ransom group, which both Washington and Manila say is affiliated to the al-Qaeda.

Arroyo boasted that her Washington trip secured a U.S. government aid worth 96 million dollars to help children in conflict areas of the southern Philippines, apart from Manila in the category of a full non-NATO military ally.

"The success of my state visit is about recognizing that moral choices in moments of crisis must be backed up in day to day life by unified action, sustained vigor, and effective prosecution," she said.