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.