Rebel commander declares 'all-out war' against Philippines

MANILA: A Muslim rebel commander behind deadly raids in the southern Philippines on Wednesday declared an "all-out war" against the government, saying his fighters were willing to die in battle.
 
Abdurahman Macapaar of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), also known as Commander Bravo, taunted the military and said his Mujahedin were willing to engage them in firefights anytime.

"We are prepared to trade fire with them until we are decimated. If they cannot finish us, we will finish them," Bravo said over the Radio Mindanao Network. "We are prepared to kill, we are prepared to be killed."

He said the attacks on several Christian towns in the provinces of Lanao del Norte and Sarangani on Monday that left 38 dead were led by "Mujahedin" angered by an aborted land deal with the government.

"What the Muslims want is Islamic justice in Mindanao," Bravo said, referring to the country's main southern island where the MILF has been waging a separatist rebellion since 1978.

"In the eyes of Allah we are not terrorists," he said, reacting to accusations by some government officials that he and his rebel unit no longer follow the MILF chain of command.

Bravo is a senior MILF leader who controls large rebel areas in the mountains of Lanao in Mindanao. Short and of medium build, Bravo along with another MILF commander named Umbra Kato, is a separatist hardliner who has repeatedly staged attacks despite ongoing peace talks.

Kato's men last week illegally occupied more than 20 villages in another Mindanao province, triggering intense gunbattles.

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno late Tuesday offered 10 million pesos (222,000 dollars) for any information leading to the capture of the two.

The recent flare up of violence came after the Supreme Court on August 4 stopped the government from signing an agreement expanding a Muslim autonomous area to be controlled by the MILF.

The proposed agreement had triggered massive street protests from Christian provinces and towns in Mindanao.

"The government has been deceiving the MILF for a long time," Bravo said.

Hostilities meanwhile spread to other provinces Wednesday, with the army reporting it was engaged in gunbattles with MILF rebels in the town of Shariff Aguak that has left one soldier wounded so far.