Troops claim to have found second arms cache of MILF

By BONG GARCIA JR.
TODAY Correspondent

ZAMBOANGA CITY - Government troops pursuing “terrorists embedded” with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) uncovered another arms caché of the separatist group and high-powered firearms and ammunition on Monday in the hinterlands of Maguindanao, a top military official said Wednesday.

The stockpile was found two days after 450 kilos of Composition 4, over a hundred kilos of gun powder, two molders of rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) fuse, two RPG fuses and other materials were recovered in barangay Payan, Kabuntalan, Maguindanao.

Maj. Gen. Roy Kyamko, Armed Forces Southern Command chief, said the latest find was also in barangay Payan, Kabuntalan, just near the place where the explosives and bomb ingredients were found.

Troops found on Monday three RPGs with 13 rounds of ammunition, a 60-millimeter mortar, five RPG fuses and five timing pins. Two of the 13 rocket-propelled grenades were found loaded on one of two motorized bancas.

“Results of the investigation into previous bombings in the area reveal that the bombs used had the same materials and firing mechanisms as those of the materials recovered from the MILF,” Kyamko said.

Scores were killed and wounded in the series of bombings that rocked the cities of Davao and Koronadal. The MILF was blamed for the series of incidents.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu complained that the explosives and explosives ingredients were “planted” as the place where they were recovered is marshy and therefore not a logical place for storing explosives.

Government forces are still scouring the vicinity where the explosives were uncovered, as they believe that there are more stored in that place.

Ebrahim al-Haj Murad, the MILF vice chairman for military affairs, said the explosive materials, particularly the C4, do not belong to the separatist group.

However, Murad admitted that MILF arms makers manufacture RPG and its ammunition is used by the rebels in combat.

“It [RPG] could be made in any ordinary tinsmith shop,” Murad said, but he did not divulge the materials used. With J. Vicente