Documents, photos seized at MILF base unveil terror plans<\/p>\n
Froilan Gallardo, Associated Press, Pikit, Philippines<\/p>\n
Government troops seized boxes of documents on Sunday in the
\nhouse of a Moro separatist leader in the southern Philippines,
\nincluding manuals on assassination, ambush and bombing
\ntechniques, military officials said.<\/p>\n
Pictures of rifle-clad children being trained as Moro Islamic
\nLiberation Front (MILF) guerrillas also were found in the house,
\nwhich allegedly was the command post of MILF chairman Hashim
\nSalamat in a sprawling rebel lair that has been captured in a
\nweeklong military offensive, the officials said.<\/p>\n
\"It means they're training terrorists,\" army Maj. Gen.
\nGeneroso Senga told reporters. \"They're training even child
\ncombatants.\"<\/p>\n
With past police and military intelligence reports linking the
\nMILF to the al-Qaeda terrorist network, the military will examine
\nthe seized documents for evidence of such a connection, army
\nspokesman Maj. Julieto Ando said.<\/p>\n
The abandoned building and three nearby huts apparently used
\nas Muslim prayer areas were in a heavily fortified compound that
\nwas ringed by deep trenches and concrete fence with barbed wire
\nand shielded from the air and ground by banana and coconut trees.<\/p>\n
The area is in the so-called Buliok complex in a vast, marshy
\nboundary straddling the southern provinces of North Cotabato and
\nMaguindanao, which the military said it captured late last week
\nin a major offensive involving thousands of soldiers and marines.<\/p>\n
Armed forces spokesman Col. Essel Soriano said 157 rebels,
\nfive soldiers and one government militiaman were killed in the
\nfighting. Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu claimed only 40 guerrillas
\nwere killed, including 35 on Thursday in a clash in Sultan
\nKudarat province's Tinumiges village in the single biggest
\nguerrilla loss in recent memory. Military deaths and injuries are
\nnow \"by the hundreds,\" Kabalu claimed.<\/p>\n
Neither count could be independently confirmed.<\/p>\n
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, whose administration is
\nworking to resume Malaysian-brokered peace talks with the rebels,
\nlast week ordered the offensive on Buliok, stressing it was not
\ndirected against the MILF but against criminals and outlaws who
\nhave allegedly taken refuge in MILF areas -- including those from
\nthe Pentagon, a notorious kidnap gang on a U.S. terrorist list.<\/p>\n
The rebels, who have been waging a bloody separatist war in
\nthe country's poor south, deny the claims, saying the offensive
\nis aimed at pressuring them into accepting a peace deal.<\/p>\n
Kabalu denied that Salamat maintained a house or command post
\nin Buliok and added the military may have found a Muslim prayer
\ncenter. The rebel documents were \"planted\" by military officials
\nto justify the military assaults, which were actually a violation
\nof a cease-fire agreement, he said.<\/p>\n
\"This is a psychological, propaganda operation by the
\nmilitary,\" Kabalu told The Associated Press by telephone. \"If we
\nabandon an area, do you think we would leave any delicate
\ndocuments there?\"<\/p>\n
He acknowledged many MILF guerrillas abandoned their
\nstrongholds in Buliok because of the overwhelming military combat
\nforces.<\/p>\n
\"We're natives there and we have a mastery of the terrain,\" he
\nsaid. \"We've just maneuvered out to avoid the tanks and planes,
\nbut we're just around running and watching.\"<\/p>\n
The fighting began last Tuesday with a government assault on
\nthe Pikit area in North Cotabato province, about 920 kilometers
\n(575 miles) southeast of Manila. About 51,000 people have fled
\ntheir homes. Four children have died of various illnesses in
\nevacuation centers, officials said.<\/p>",
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