Alagar readies for ‘sympathy attacks’

By NITZ ARANCON
and BONITA ERMAC
Correspondents

CAMP Alagar yesterday stepped up security measures here and in all of Region 10 to prevent a spillover of violence resulting for fierce clashes between Army soldiers and a group of suspected terrorists in Lanao del Sur since last week.

Police regional director Chief Supt. Lyndel Desquitado said Camp Alagar was not ruling out the possibility of “sympathy attacks” in northern Mindanao following the killing of suspected terrorists in Butig, Lanao del Sur last week.

Police have counted 48 dead, 42 of whom were suspected terrorists and six soldiers.

But information from the military in Lanao del Sur as of Saturday afternoon showed that over 50 suspected terrorists and five soldiers were killed, and nine others were wounded in the fierce encounters since Feb. 20 when an armed group attacked a patrol base of the 51st Infantry Battallion and the 5th Mechanized Battalion in Barangay Poblacion Bayabao in Butig.

Desquitado said he was worried that “sympathy attacks” would be staged in Region 10 especially if violence escalates in Lanao del Sur.

“Ma-oy hinongdan nga nangandam nata dinhi sa ato,” he said.

Desquitado ordered the police directors of Lanao del Norte, Bukidnon and Misamis Oriental to guard the boundaries.

He also ordered security measures around vital public installations like towers of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) that could be the first targets of the armed group.

Camp Alagar spokesman Supt. Surki Sereñas said Camp Alagar has also ordered checkpoints and intelligence gathering operations in Region 10  beefed up.

Sereñas said the police in the region has gone on full alert, and has prepared to prevent a spillover of atrocities from Lanao del Sur.

Sereñas said police units across the region and Lanao del Sur were sharing “geographical  information” to ensure that augmentation forces from the Regional Public Safety Battalion, and public safety companies  could easily respond in the event that violence escalates in Lanao del sur.

Sereñas said Camp Alagar was also closely coordinating with the Armed Forces. “Constant coordination with the PNP and its AFP counterparts in the affected areas are also being undertaken,” Sereñas said.

The military has claimed to have seized high-powered firearms during an encounter in Barangay Ragayan, Butig on Thursday alone. The firearms include a caliber 50 sniper rifle, a RPG, two caliber 5.56mm, and M16 rifles. Soldiers also seized a binocular, a VHF hand-held radio with extra battery,  documents, and photos from the group of brothers Abdullah and Omar Maute.

Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILD) commander Abdullah Macapaar denied any links with the Maute brothers.

“The MILF is not part of that. What we heard is that it’s the Isis. It is not true that I have been sworn into the Isis. I am loyal to the MILF,” Macapaar said.

He said his group was willing to help government forces in putting up a defense against the Maute group.

Col. Roseller Murillo, 103rd Brigade commander, called on citizens in Lanao del Sur to help the military “to eradicate this threat.”