Court Throws Out Murder Charges Vs. MILF officials
Mama Gubal, Special to Arab News & AP

TACURONG, Philippines, 3 April 2003 - A local court has dismissed murder charges filed against known officials of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in connection with a New Year's Eve grenade blast that killed eight people and injured many others.

Judge Milanco Guerrero of the Municipal Circuit Trial Court for the towns of Lutayan, Columbio, President Quirino and Lambayong, all in Sultan Kudarat, said the prosecution had shown no sufficient evidence to back up its case.

Provincial police chief Willie Dangane had named MILF Chairman Salamat Hashim, spokesman Eid Kabalu, vice chairman for political affair Ghazali Jaafar, and military affairs chief Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim and more than 90 others as respondents in the case.

The MILF had denied any knowledge or participation in the bombing incident.

Meanwhile, in Kalanugas, Lanao del Sur, fighting erupted early in the morning yesterday when MILF fighters fired rocket-propelled grenades at an army command post.

The MILF claimed that two soldiers were killed and seven were injured.

Kabalu said MILF fighters also attacked soldiers guarding a road linking the towns of Shariff Aguak and Talayan in Maguindanao province late on Tuesday.

Col. Agustin Dima-ala, commander of the army's 301st Brigade, said troops conducting mopping-up operations yesterday found the bodies of three rebels in Shariff Aguak's Iginagampong village. He also said 125 residents fled their homes about an hour before the attack, after they were apparently warned by the rebels.