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Eid Kabalu	Eid Kabalu	Abu Sayyaf	Southeast Asia	Filipino		Front Man	20030711
		AKA "Lipless Eddie." As MILF spokesman, Kabalu probed the boundaries of the "shameless liar" designation, attempting to push into new territory.
	Eid Kabalu	Moro Islamic Liberation Front	Southeast Asia	Filipino	At Large	Big Shot	20031204
		Spokesman for MILF

Southeast Asia

Former MILF spokesperson now "peace" consultant

2012-06-15

Former spokesperson of the Moro rebels, Eid Kabalu has made a complete turnaround to become a "peace consultant" of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Kabalu was the mouthpiece of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) for more than 10 years and was the most accessible rebel official whenever major clashes between the rebel group and the military occurred, including the "all-out war" declared in 2000 by then President Joseph Estrada. Kabulu said, "My joining the AFP was of my own volition. I'm here on a mission of peace, and I believe working to attain that elusive peace in Mindanao is an individual responsibility." The military hunted down Kabalu and other top MILF leaders in the aftermath of rebel attacks on civilian communities in 2008 after the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a proposed Bangsamoro homeland deal to end the MILF rebellion. The MILF Central Committee suspended Kabalu for his alleged involvement in the 2010 general elections. He resigned from the MILF last year before its top leaders could expel him for talking to local politicians about his desire to be a nominee for acting chair of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. President Benigno Aquino eventually appointed another man to the post. Major General Rey Ardo, commander of the Army's 6th Infantry Division, said Kabalu volunteered to help the military in its peace efforts. Colonel Roy Galido, commander of the Army's 40th Infantry Battalion, said the former rebel spokesperson "can be an effective reconciliatory asset for the AFP." Maguindanao Governor Esmael Mangudadatu said, "He could be an effective helping hand in resolving rido (feuds) among Moro clans, some of whom happen to be MILF members involved in political and land ownership squabbles." While Kabalu's act was praised by the government side, the MILF downplayed his decision to work with the military. It does "not augur well with his personality," said Ghadzali Jaafar, MILF political affairs chief. But then, Jaafar said he hoped Kabalu could help the situation in Mindanao. Kabalu said he did not turn his back on the Moro struggle. He said, "Now, working as a mainstream peace missionary, my position would be no armed confrontation or violence. I am for a peaceful resolution of the decades-old Mindanao conflict."

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Southeast Asia

MILF: Kato is dead

2011-12-03

Last week, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was insisting that Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement (BIFM) founder Ustadhz Ameril Umra Kato "is alive." On Friday, the MILF said it has confirmed that the breakaway Moro leader was dead. "He's been asleep for an awfully long time, Narcisso. And he stopped snoring last week!" MILF Vice Chairman for Political Affairs Ghazali Jaafar said when reached by mobile phone,"We have an unimpeachable source today (Friday morning) that Kato has really died. This is now the conclusion of the MILF and we are going to stand by it." "Once they start to stink like that we assume they're titzup!" Jaafar said Kato's death was kept secret to prevent his followers from getting demoralized. But one of Kato's close aides, Abu Misry Mama, persisted with his claim that their leader, who formed the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighter (BIFF) before leaving the MILF, was alive but recovering from a stroke. "He'll come around, really! He always has in the past! Once he's had a bath he'll smell fine!"" Reports about Kato's death gained credibility after the BIFM kept him from public view and refused media requests to interview him. "Sorry. Y'can't talk to him now. He's meditatin'." Jaafar said Kato's family, commanders of his BIFM, and his top leaders held a big "kanduli" in Camp Omar (Camp Alfaro to BIFM), in the wilderness of Talayan, Maguindanao. He said they slaughtered two cows. "Mooooo!" "Moooo!" "Ew-w-w-w-w! Blood! It's on me! Ick!" "Shuddup. Allah likes blood!" A kanduli is a Muslim feast of thanksgiving and other happy occasions but it can also be for someone who passed away. Muslims traditionally observe a kanduli either the third day or seventh day (or both) of the death of a family member. Jaafar said the kanduli was for Kato's seventh day and it was very strange that Kato was the only one absent. He said this placed Nov. 25 as the most likely day Kato died. "Our very reliable source asked one of Kato's wives where he is and the reply was that 'he (Kato) went to a place that is better than anywhere,'" Jaafar said, adding it is a Muslim's way of saying "a person went ahead to Paradise and the mercy of God." Jaafar said that with Kato gone, BIFM leaders have decided that their three vice chairmen -- for political affairs, internal affairs, and military affairs -- will take turns in leading the BIFM for six months each. Two other Muslim leaders, Commissioner Datu Alladin I. Ampatuan Presumably from the same Ampatuan clan that massacred twenty-some rivals and reporters a year or two ago... of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) and Eid Kabalu, ... aka Lipless Eddie... retired MILF military spokesman, both believe that Kato has died. "Yep. They smell like that, they're gone. Long gone, in fact." Ampatuan said he knew as early as last week that the renegade leader was dead because the news was relayed to him by one of Kato's close relatives. Ampatuan, commissioner-in-charge of the Bureau of Peace and Conflict Resolution (NCMF-BPCR), said, "Don't ever believe Ustadhz Ameril Umra Kato is alive; he is already dead." Kabalu said he felt vindicated after the confirmation of Kato's leader's death just days after his meeting with Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founding Chairman Nur Misuari. Kabalu said, "I am relieved and vindicated because I was the first one to say Kato already died. If he is still alive, then they should show him to stop all this." However Malacañang said it is confused by the conflicting reports about Kato's death and will wait for an official confirmation from the military. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said, "We're waiting for independent information. We're wondering why there are conflicting reports." Valte noted that the Armed Forces' last report on Kato was that he refused the government's offer of medical assistance when he suffered a stroke.

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India-Pakistan

Philippines probes reported US killing of wanted militant

2010-01-23

[Dawn] Philippine authorities said Friday they were investigating reports that one of the country's most wanted militants may have been killed by a US missile strike in Pakistan. Abdul Basit Usman was among several people believed to have been killed on January 14 in a US drone attack that targeted Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud in a remote area of northern Pakistan, according to various media reports. "If the reports are true then it is good news for us because the killing of Basit Usman means one less terrorist on the street," Lieutenant General Benjamin Dolorfino, military commander in the southwestern Philippines, told AFP. But he added: "We still have to verify the reports." Dolorfino said Usman was involved in many deadly bombings in the southern Philippines' Mindanao region, where insurgents have waged a decades-old separatist rebellion in which more than 150,000 people have died. The US government has offered one million-dollar bounty for information leading to Usman's capture, according to its "Rewards for Justice" website. The website, run by the US State Department, described him as a bomb-making expert with links to the Abu Sayyaf, a Philippines' militant organisation blamed for the nation's worst attacks. It also said he had links to Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian extremist group that is linked to Al-Qaeda and been blamed for major attacks including the 2002 Bali bombings in Indonesia that killed 202 people. "US authorities consider Basit to be a threat to US and Filipino citizens and interests. Basit is believed to have orchestrated several bombings that have killed, injured, and maimed many innocent civilians," the website said. The Philippine military previously said Usman also had links to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the nation's largest Muslim guerrilla group that has led the long-running rebellion in the south. MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said it was also looking into the reports Usman had been killed, while reiterating the group's position that it was not involved with him. "We are trying to verify (those) reports," Kabalu said. "As far as we know, Usman had links with Jemaah Islamiyah and Al-Qaeda, and could be fighting alongside the Taliban, which has links with Al-Qaeda."

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Southeast Asia

MILF declare ceasefire

2009-07-26

[Al Arabiya Latest] Muslim separatist rebels in the Philippines on Saturday declared a ceasefire against the military, and vowed that all civilians returning to their villages will not be harmed. The "suspension of military action" by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) came two days after President Gloria Arroyo ordered the army to cease all offensives against the rebels to pave the way for the resumption of peace talks. It was not clear whether the ceasefire declaration would lead to a drop in hostilities. "This is meant to reciprocate the government move," MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu told AFP. "This was a natural course of action on our part, and we had been expecting to declare this as a consequence of the government's decision." Kabalu said all MILF ground commanders had been told not to carry out any attacks as tens of thousands of civilians displaced by the fighting are expected to stream back to their homes in conflict zones. He said however that rebels will remain on "defense mode" and will hit back if attacked or provoked. The MILF broke a five-year-old ceasefire in August last year and launched attacks across the southern island of Mindanao, where they have been waging a bloody rebellion since 1978. The attacks were carried out after Manila's Supreme Court outlawed a proposed deal with the government that would have given the MILF control over a large area of Mindanao, land it claims as an "ancestral domain." Heavy fighting that followed since has left over 300 civilians and combatants dead, while over 400,000 people remain displaced. It was not clear whether the ceasefire declaration would lead to a drop in hostilities.

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Southeast Asia

Philippine troops rescue 5 kidnapped workers

2009-07-19

Philippine troops have rescued five employees of a logging company who were kidnapped by suspected Muslim guerrillas in the country's south last week, the military said Sunday. The five employees, including a woman, were seized Wednesday by eight guerrillas belonging to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Kapai township in Lanao del Sur province, military spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner said. Army troops and police rescued the victims Saturday near Kapai without a fire fight, he said. A local mayor helped the troops locate the hostages, who were moved from one rebel hide-out to another to evade the military, Brawner said, adding that government forces were pursuing the kidnappers. Brawner identified the leader of the kidnappers as Basit Kauyag. Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu said he was not sure if Kauyag was a member of the guerrilla front, but that it would investigate Brawner's allegation. The Philippine military has cracked down on kidnappings in the south, which are mostly blamed on the smaller but more violent Abu Sayyaf group, fearing ransom payments could be used to finance terrorist attacks.

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Southeast Asia

Bomb blast near south Philippine cathedral kills 5

2009-07-05

Suspected Muslim guerrillas detonated a bomb near a Roman Catholic cathedral in the southern Philippines on Sunday, killing at least five people and wounding 46. The bomb exploded outside the Immaculate Conception cathedral in Cotabato city as churchgoers were attending Mass. Two people were killed instantly in the attack and three others, including a militiaman, later died in hospitals, military officials said. Among the wounded were six soldiers and militiamen who were in an army van that passed by the cathedral when the device, fashioned from a mortar round, exploded, Cotabato city Mayor Muslimin Sema said. The improvised explosive, which was set off remotely by mobile phone, was hidden near a row of food stalls selling roasted pig, Maj. Gen. Alfredo Cayton said. Police arrested one man seen using a phone during the explosion. He was carrying three identification cards with different names, Sema said. Cathedral guard Nestor Luna said shrapnel flew in all directions, inflicting wounds on his head, arms and feet. "I wanted to help the wounded, but I felt dizzy and saw my white uniform soaked in blood. Somebody helped me walk away," Luna told The Associated Press by telephone from the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center. "Whoever did this should know that they hit so many innocent civilians," he said. At the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI deplored the bomb attack. "While I pray to God for the victims of this ignoble gesture, I raise my voice to condemn yet again the recourse to violence, which is never a worthwhile way to solve existing problems," Benedict told pilgrims in St. Peter's Square. Chief nurse Norma Reyes said at least seven of the wounded were in critical condition and needed surgery. TV footage showed four wounded soldiers sitting dazed on the sidewalk and a militiaman lying unconscious, face down on the seat of the shrapnel-damaged van. Two bodies lay sprawled near the sidewalk while a stunned woman limped out of a food stall, blood dripping from her foot. Soldiers helped the wounded into ambulances with sirens wailing. Army troops with assault rifles surrounded the cathedral and cordoned off nearby streets, footage showed. Cayton immediately blamed the 11,500-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has been targeted by a monthslong military offensive in nearby Maguindanao province and outlying regions. "Nobody has the motive, the capability and the track record to carry out this terrorist attack except" the group, Cayton told The AP. Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu denied his group was involved and condemned the bombing. He said the rebels would not do anything to foment a religious war. Military spokesman Lt. Col. Romero Brawner said investigators were trying to determine if the attackers targeted the military van. "They will hit any place where civilians congregate. They have no regard for life," Brawner said. A similar bomb went off on a roadside in Datu Piang township in nearby Maguindanao late Saturday, wounding three people in an attack believed to have also been staged by the rebels, Brawner said.

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Southeast Asia

Bomb attack kills two, wounds eight in Mindanao market

2009-06-29

Two people were killed on Monday and at least 8 others wounded in a bomb attack blamed by the military to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the restive Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao. Colonel Jonathan Ponce, a regional army spokesman, said the powerful explosion occurred at around 6 a.m. near a market in Kitanggo village in town of Datu Saudi Ampatuan in Maguindanao province. He said the explosion killed Malimpunok Nunokan, 65, and Tong Hadji Omal, 25. “One of the dead was the courier of the bomb and a member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s special operations group,” Ponce said without identifying the bomber. It was unknown if the bombing was a suicide attack. Other reports said the improvised explosive was planted near a café. Ponce said the bomb was assembled from an 81mm mortar. “The series of IED bombings in central Mindanao are the handiwork of the special operations group of the MILF,” he told the Mindanao Examiner. No individual or group claimed responsibility for the blast, but the MILF denied it was behind the bombing and said soldiers planted the explosive as part of its campaign to discredit the rebel group. “Villagers saw soldiers arrived in the area at dawn and there was an explosion several hours later,” Eid Kabalu, a senior MILF leader, told reporters.

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Southeast Asia

30 MILF banged, camp seized

2009-06-07

[Straits Times] THE Philippines' military said on Saturday its troops had killed 30 Muslim separatist guerrillas in three days of fighting on the southern island of Mindanao. Ground troops supported by artillery barrages and rocket-firing ground-attack aircraft seized the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (Milf) camp near the town of Guindulungan early on Saturday, said Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Ponce, spokesman for an army division whose units took part in the fight. He estimated that, in addition to the 30 dead, 20 wounded rebels escaped with the camp's defenders after they were routed by the assault that began on Thursday. Earlier, the government reported that 13 rebels were killed. Five soldiers were wounded in the successful operation, Mr Ponce added. 'We used artillery and we used close air support, explaining the large casualty count,' he said. Soldiers retrieved some of the bodies from shallow graves dug by the rebels for their dead comrades, he said, explaining that Muslim custom required that the dead had to be buried before sundown. The 12,000-member Milf, however, denied suffering any casualties, and accused the military of setting fire to the homes of Muslim families in Guindulungan. 'The soldiers torched the houses after they failed to find any rebels in the area,' Milf spokesman Eid Kabalu told reporters in a conference call. 'Muslims are fleeing their homes because they are scared of the soldiers who are notorious for their human rights records,' Mr Kabalu claimed. Mr Ponce said soldiers found bunkers, an administration building, foxholes and reinforced trenches around the captured training camp, along with 'improvised explosive devices,' munitions and Milf uniforms. He said the group was behind the sacking of a string of Christian communities in Mindanao last year that touched off a major humanitarian crisis by displacing at least half a million people from their homes. The pillage followed a Supreme Court ruling that outlawed a draft peace agreement between the Milf and President Gloria Arroyo's government. The deal offered Muslim rule over large areas of the south of mainly Roman Catholic Philippines.

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Southeast Asia

Restive muslims bomb bridge,somebody else burned houses

2009-05-27

ZAMBOANGA CITY: Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels yesterday bombed a bridge and raided a village in Maguindanao province in the restive Muslim autonomous region in the southern Philippines, officials said. Officials said the attack on the bridge occurred before dawn in the village of Lintokan in Datu Piang town. Rebels also torched houses on a nearby village of Reina Regente forcing residents to flee the rampage. There were no immediate reports of civilian casualties, but the military blamed the attacks on a senior MILF leader, Ameril Kato, who also led a series of deadly attacks last year in the region. "Troops are clearing the area," said Lt. Col. Jonathan Ponce, a spokesman for the Army's 6th Infantry Division. MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said the bombing of the bridge was part of a counter-attack. He denied rebels burned houses of civilians. "No, no! Certainly not!" Kabalu also said rebels on Sunday fired rockets at the positions of the Army's 54th Infantry Battalion in the village of Datu Gumbay in Datu Piang town, targeting the 105mm howitzers and munitions storage in the area. Rebel forces also attacked government troops earlier in the day in the village of Teren-Teren in North Cotabato's Alamada town and three other areas in the towns of Banisilan, Aleosan and Midsayap.

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Southeast Asia

13 killed in clash with MILF

2009-04-02

[Straits Times] TWELVE Muslim separatists and a soldier were killed in clashes in the southern Philippines when government forces foiled a rebel attack on a town, the military said on Wednesday. Army Scout Rangers backed by helicopter gunships on Tuesday ambushed a Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) unit on the outskirts of Alamada town, said regional military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Ponce. Security forces recovered the bodies of 12 MILF rebels and a soldier after a two-hour firefight, he told reporters. Three other soldiers were wounded, he added. The 12,000-member MILF has been waging a decades-old insurgency to set up a Muslim state in the southern Philippines, where Christian settlers now outnumber the original inhabitants. Alamada, on the major southern island of Mindanao, is a frequent flashpoint of Muslim-Christian disputes over farmland. President Gloria Arroyo halted peace talks last year after the Supreme Court blocked a draft peace agreement that would have given the Muslims political and economic control of the south. This triggered MILF attacks on Christian communities that left dozens of civilians dead and displaced about 600,000 people. 'We were the ones subjected to attacks by the military, so our troops merely responded accordingly,' MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu told reporters, commenting on the Alamada fighting. He said he could not confirm the rebel fatalities. Ponce said the bodies had been turned over to local officials so they could be returned to relatives.

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Southeast Asia

27 dead in Philippines clashes

2009-03-29

TWENTY Muslim separatists and seven soldiers have been killed in fighting in the southern Philippines during a visit to the region by President Gloria Arroyo, a military spokesman said. About 60 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels attacked a security patrol Thursday near the town of Mamasapano on the island of Mindanao, about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the provincial capital where Mrs Arroyo was scheduled to visit, said Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Ponce. Mrs Arroyo went ahead with her visit on Friday, as clashes escalated and 20 MILF fighters were killed, he added. Seven soldiers were also killed the same day. Mrs Arroyo was aware of the ongoing fighting nearby during her visit to Maguindanao province, said a provincial official who was part of the welcoming party. 'The president appeared unmindful of her security, anyway the fighting was far away,' the official added. MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu confirmed the clashes but alleged the military started it when they attacked a community where some of the rebels' families lived. He made no casualty reports. The military said the attacks were led by Ameril Umbrakato, a hardline MILF leader who is one of the country's most wanted men following a series of deadly attacks on Christian communities in the Mindanao region last year that claimed dozens of lives and displaced about 600,000 people. Last year's fighting was triggered by a Supreme Court ruling that outlawed a draft peace agreement being offered by Arroyo to end four decades of insurgency in the homeland of the mainly Roman Catholic nation's large Muslim minority. The accord would have granted the Muslims control over large areas of the south, a region where the Muslims are now outnumbered by Christian settlers. Colonel Marlou Salazar, commander of an army brigade involved in the fighting, told reporters the rebels continued lobbing mortar shells onto army positions on Friday night and Saturday morning. Meanwhile the army pursued the rebels who split into smaller groups and fled towards a marshy area, Mr Ponce said.

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Southeast Asia

Ten killed in rebel attacks in Philippines, says military

2008-12-26

Ten people were killed when Muslim separatist guerrillas launched attacks and occupied a village in the southern Philippines, military and police officials said on Thursday. Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels attacked Midtungo village in the southern island of Mindanao with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles on Tuesday, military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Julieto Ando said. The militants killed nine residents and wounded another, he said, updating an earlier toll of six after three more deaths were discovered. In a separate attack, a passenger of a motorboat passing near the town of Kalamansig was killed after suspected MILF fighters shot at the vessel on Wednesday, provincial police chief Ben-Hur Mongao said. As many as 400 families fled Midtungo after the attack there, town social welfare officer Edmund Corder said. Mongao said the MILF fighters had occupied Midtungo until Christmas day on Thursday but that they had withdrawn by noon after the army, police and pro-government militiamen cordoned off the area. "The Philippine National Police is still at the site and we cannot say that it is totally clear," as policemen searched the village for stragglers and booby-traps, said Mongao. Evacuated residents had taken refuge in the town hall and were still being cared for by local officials, Mongao said, although he could not say how many had fled. MILF fighters also attacked other communities in the south, firing assault rifles and mortars on Tuesday and Wednesday, the military said. A home-made bomb, believed to have been planted by the MILF, was found on a highway in the town of Datu Saudi Ampatuan in Mindanao on Thursday but it was defused by the military, local commander Colonel Marlou Salazar said."It's believed to be intended for a military convoy," Salazar added. Attacks: MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu denied there had been an attack and accused the military of trying to provoke the separatist group. He said the soldiers had been building up forces in the area for no reason, leading to an exchange of gunfire. But he denied any attacks on civilians. The government suspended peace talks with the MILF after the group launched attacks across Mindanao in August to protest a court order stopping a deal that would have given the rebels control over a Muslim autonomous region. More than 600,000 people were displaced in fighting that followed, while dozens of civilians, guerrillas and soldiers have been killed.

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