COTABATO CITY, Philippines鈥擳he Moro Islamic Liberation Front believes the ceasefire agreement between it and the government was violated during Monday鈥檚 skirmishes involving private armed groups and government forces.
鈥淭here should be an impartial investigation,鈥� Ghadzali Jaafar, MILF vice chairman for political affairs, said in a radio interview.
Jaafar said the MILF was almost dragged into the violence that broke out while government law enforcers were serving a warrant of arrest on聽 Dainga Ampatuan, one of the key suspects in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre, in Sitio (sub village) Lab, Barangay (village) Kuloy, Ampatuan, Maguindanao.
The area is a known to be a community controlled by the MILF.
鈥淭he joint GPH-MILF ceasefire panel, along with the International Monitoring Team should look into it,鈥� Jaafar said.
Ampatuan was killed when he and his men resisted arrest and fired at the arresting team.
Five policemen and a soldier were hurt in聽 exchanges of gunfire that went on sporadically for six hours on Monday until the military came into the picture and forced Ampatuan鈥檚 followers to retreat.
Kinog Mamaluba and Norin Ariray, both followers of Ampatuan, were arrested after the fighting. Government forces also recovered 12 assorted firearms from Ampatuan鈥檚 group.
Jaafar insisted that bloodshed could have been avoided had the government forces coordinated with the MILF.