40 killed in airstrike on militant-linked groups

40 killed in airstrike on militant-linked groups

Agence France-Presse, Cotabato, Philippines

The Philippines said on Friday airstikes on a suspected meeting
of regional al-Qaeda-linked group leaders left 40 dead including
possibly two top Indonesian members of the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI)
extremist group.

The Philippines military said however it was yet to recover a
single body from the marshy area on southern Mindanao island that
it attacked on Thursday, targeting leaders from the regional
militant and separatist groups.

"Based on radio intercepts, we learned that there were 40
rebels killed including two ranking JI leaders," said Mindanao
military chief, Lt. Gen. Alberto Braganza.

Braganza said the guerrillas had dragged their dead away,
making it difficult to say how many were actually killed.

But Col. Gerry Jalandoni, the commander of the military forces
on the ground, said it was too difficult to confirm the death
toll because of conditions on the ground.

He added local residents had reported five people were killed
including a man believed to be an Indonesian.

"It's really very hard (to verify.) The area is still very
hostile. What we've got are all reports coming from the locals,"
Jalandoni said.

Eid Kabalu, spokesman of the Muslim separatist Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF), said he had received reports that just
one person had been injured but that several houses had been
destroyed in the airstrike.

Kabalu expressed doubts that so many fatalities could be
concealed, saying "it is very difficult to hide this from public
knowledge."

Military officials added many of the Muslim guerrillas who
were the target of the airstrike had slipped away to Palimbang
town, a haven of two renegade MILF commanders who earlier overran
an army outpost.

The military said it was acting on intelligence reports when
its helicopter gunships and planes attacked the suspected meeting
between leaders of the Abu Sayyaf and JI militant groups and the
renegade members of the MILF.

The military earlier said three JI members were meeting at the
site including one member named Dulmatin, who was believed to
have been involved in the deadly October 2002 bombing on the
Indonesian resort island of Bali. The other two Indonesians were
identified as Maruan and Mauyha.

The Abu Sayyaf are known mainly for kidnapping and bombing
attacks against Christians and foreigners. It has been linked by
both Washington and Manila to the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin
Laden.

The group is also blamed for a deadly ferry fire triggered by
a homemade bomb in February last year, which killed more than 100
people in the country's worst terrorist attack.