Word: mindanao
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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MONEY American military assistance to the Philippines has jumped from $38 million in 2001 to $114 million this year?making it the fourth largest recipient of U.S. military aid. Last week President Bush promised development money for the southern island of Mindanao if a peace pact can be secured between Manila and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front...
DIED. HASHIM SALAMAT, 61, founder and leader of the 25-year-old, 12,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF); of a heart attack; "somewhere in Mindanao," according to the rebel group. News of Salamat's death remained secret for over three weeks, during which the Philippine government signed a cease-fire with the group to clear the way for peace talks in Kuala Lumpur. Salamat is credited with bridging the nationalist and pan-Islamic elements within the MILF. Three weeks before he died, he formally renounced terrorism, a condition for attending the talks. He is succeeded by former deputy...
...being taken into custody; police said he died during a gun battle. Thousands of Kashmiris joined a strike in protest at the killing, as lawyers in the region called for an investigation. Clash of Faiths Philippines Three Muslim mosques in the city of Davao on the southern island of Mindanao were attacked soon after a bomb at a ferry terminal killed 16 people and injured more than 50. The blast followed one at Davao airport last month, which killed 23 people and was blamed by authorities on Muslim separatist guerrillas. Police threw a security cordon around the city as fears...
...radio station in Zamboanga to claim responsibility for the attack. Philippine authorities immediately shot his claim down. The home turf of Abu Sayyaf, which specialized in kidnapping-for-ransom before dedicating itself to jihad last year, is far away on the islands of Jolo and Basilan, southwest of Mindanao. Some suspect that the Abu Sayyaf wanted to take the blame to sound more fearsome than it currently is?or to shield the MILF, which is in peace talks with Manila. Those talks are now stalled, intensifying the sense of instability in the region: in mid-February, the Philippine armed forces...
...Intelligence sources tell Time that Salamat had, in fact, ratcheted up his jihad campaign even before that broadcast, directing the MILF's Special Operations Group (SOG) to launch retaliatory strikes in urban areas of Mindanao. The SOG attacked military targets and power transmission towers, plunging 90% of Mindanao into darkness with one explosion in late February. Cotabato City airport was bombed, too, killing one person and injuring six. Then came the attack in Davao, which the authorities are also attributing to the MILF. They claim Sudang, the suspected suicide bomber, was an MILF member, and Mayor Duterte says Sudang...