The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels on Monday accused the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) of operating a food blockade and causing a man-made hunger and various diseases among thousands of evacuees in Central Mindanao.
Luwaran.com reported that tens of thousands of internally displaced persons continue to suffer for lack of food and medicines in the battle zones of Maguindanao and Sarangani as the AFP ordered a blockade of food and medicines since Sunday.
"People are hungry and children are suffering from various illnesses inside combat zones especially in Datu Saudi Ampatuan complex where fierce fighting has been taking place for days already," the MILF's official website said.
It said the AFP is using excessive military force including use of howitzers, OV-10 planes, helicopter gunships in an attempt to dislodge thousands of MILF mujahideens, who use telescopic single-shot .50 cal. rifle against soldiers.
Many of the government casualties died of shots in the forehead, even as one military helicopter was shot down and that the helicopter was burning above the fighting zone in Maasim and crashed few minutes later in the mountains near General Santos City.
Sources inside the war zones in Maguindanao and Sarangani said that even non-government organizations (NGOs) which were trying to bring food and medicines to thousands of families still inside war zones were not allowed by the military inside.
"There is a humanitarian crisis in Maguindanao now and people will die if no food and medicines reach these evacuees whose houses were either burnt or destroyed by indiscriminate shelling and bombings by military forces for days," the report also said.
"The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP), and other international aid agencies must intervene now or people will die of hunger or by government bombs or bullets," it added.
The food blockade is being clamped by the military along the Mindanao River and the Cotabato-General Santos City Highway and all roads leading to the Datu Saudi Ampatuan Complex in Maguindanao and Palimbang-General Santos City in Maasim in Sarangani.
The military want the MILF mujahideens starved but it is hitting the civilians instead, according to Luwaran.com website.
Eid Kabalu, headf of the MILF's military civil affairs, in a text message, confirmed that a restriction on the entry of NGO, civic and even society groups into the areas affected by the conflict is being imposed by government forces. He did not give further details.
Meanwhile, government troops clashed with the MILF Lanao del Sur Sunday morning, leaving at least two soldiers and 16 rebels dead, the military said.
Army Major Eugene Batara, Western Mindanao Command spokesman, said operating troops of the 35th Infantry Battalion encountered about 40 fully armed MILF rebels at Barangay Nunungan, Poona Piago town.
Batara said troops cleared with artillery and air strikes the camp of rebels who occupied four layers of defensive position. He added the rebels are believed to be the advance guard of Kumander Bravo.
According to Batara, the AFP and PNP had restored normalcy and confidence of the populace along the main highways and the coastal towns of Lanao del Norte after the rebels withdrew from their position.
"Ferry boat services and land transport operations had been restored. Majority of the evacuees from Kauswagan, Kolambugan and other towns of LDN have returned to their villages," he said.
As confirmed by signal and human intelligence, Batara said troops overran the satellite camps of 102nd Base Command under Commander Bravo, including that of Kumander Ismail Desumalong aka Ultimax of the MILF's 7th Brigade, in Barangay Nunungan, Poona Piago and Matunggao towns inflicting several casualties on the rebels.
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