Dinah Lord

Look, Marge. Another Muslim beheading a Christian. This time in the Philippines.

Which one's the Religion of Peace again?

Philippines: Christian hostage beheaded by militants

Suspected Muslim militants have beheaded one of two hostages captured last week in a raid on a Christian community in the southern Philippines, the military said on Monday.

Marines spokesman Capt. Neil Estrella said the body of Cosme Aballes was recovered Sunday by soldiers who are pursuing members of the militant separatist Abu Sayyaf group.

"He was nearly beheaded. His head and his body is joined merely by the skin," Estrella said.

Aballes and Ernan Chavez were reportedly taken by at least 40 Abu Sayyaf and rogue members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front when the militants raided the village of Upper Arco in Basilan Province on Friday. Chavez is still being held captive.

Meanwhile the chief of the Red Cross in the Philippines, Richard J. Gordon, has renewed his appeal for the release of two foreign aid workers being held by Muslim militants in the south of the country.

And they're threatening to behead one of the Red Cross workers now, too.

Philippines: Look Marge. The Muslims are burning Christian homes again.

They  were protesting a Supreme Court ruling.

From ABC Radio Australia:

Muslim separatists have torched the houses of 30 Christian families in an attack on a southern Philippines village.

The military says rebels from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front are still occupying the farming hamlet of Sangay after raiding it on Wednesday.

Military spokesman Julieto Ando says there were no casualties and said the raid related to a land conflict.

The government suspended peace talks with the MILF last year after the rebels attacked Christian villages across the island of Mindanao.

The rebels were protesting the Supreme Court's decision to block a proposed peace settlement that would have given them control over large tracts of land in Mindanao.

Get this, Marge.  Christians have also been told to downsize or cancel their festivals - to avoid "provoking the Muslims".

From NASDAQ:

Authorities have asked local officials in the southern Philippines to cancel or downsize Christian festivals that might otherwise provoke Muslim militants, the region's top policeman said Thursday.

Police conveyed the request to officials in the Mindanao region, where half a million people were displaced by Muslim separatists' raids in the latter half of 2008, said regional police commander Chief Superintendent Fidel Cimatu.

Philippines: Grenade attack wounds New Year's revellers.

The you-know-whos are suspected.

From Stuff.co.nz

Hundreds of people had gathered for a street party in General Santos City when the grenade exploded, said Mayor Pedro Acharon. At least six of the wounded were policemen deployed there to control the celebrating crowd, he told reporters at the site.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack but General Santos has often been targeted by Islamist radicals.

On Tuesday night, a motor tricycle exploded after it was stopped at a police checkpoint north of the town, killing the driver and wounding one policeman.

Police said a bomb had apparently been concealed within a load of charcoal being carried on the tricycle.

Many of the Philippines' Muslim minority live in the impoverished south of the archipelago. Bandit gangs, communist rebels and Islamist radicals all operate in the area.

Philippines: MILF ready to resume peace talks hudna...

I guess all those bombings in the run up to Christmas were just intended to get the Filipino government's attention or something.

All they are saying is give peace a chance.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) wants an "international guarantee" for any peace agreement before resuming talks with government, claiming it is still haunted by the row over the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) that led to the Supreme Court blocking it.

"The debacle still haunts us," MILF Chairman Murad Ebrahim said in an article posted on the MILF website (www.luwaran.net).  Because of this "bitter experience," the MILF wants an international guarantee once the peace talks resume to ensure that both the government and the MILF will honor any agreements they forge.

Oh, and they want the Filipino government to call off the dogs...

The Armed Forces of the Philippines should immediately stop military offensives against the MILF, even in the guise of running after three "rogue commanders." This is to prevent the mass evacuation of civilians and the destruction to houses, farms, animals, and other property.

The rogue commanders are the MILF version of the old 'non-state actor' dodge currently being used by Pakistan in the Mumbai Massacres, I guess. 

Commander Bravo?  You're kidding me right?

Peace talks between the government and the MILF were halted after Kato and other renegade MILF commanders Sulayman Pangalian and Abdullah Macapaar alias Commander Bravo launched attacks in Lanao, Maguindanao and Sarangani provinces in August. The attacks came after the Supreme Court stopped the signing of an ancestral domain pact that would create a Bangsamoro Juridical Entity 

Oops.  Looks like it might be too late.  Philippine Military says wanted rebel leader killed.  (There are conflicting reports so the 48 hour rule applies to this one, possums.)

Philippines: Look Marge, even MORE Muslim violence.

10 killed in "strategic offensive aimed at restarting the peace process". 

Now, there's some Islamic logic for you.  You want peace?  We're going to terrorize innocent civilians until you give us what we want - there's your peace. 

Julkipli Wadi, an analyst and professor at the Institute of Islamic Studies at the University of Philippines, said, "The recent attacks may be viewed as a strategic offensive" by the insurgents to pressure the government to restart the peace process.

About the recent attacks:

On Tuesday, members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the main group that has been fighting for Muslim self-rule in the predominantly Roman Catholic region since the 1970s, attacked villages in Sultan Kudarat township, killing nine civilians and wounding more, the military said.

The next day, Christmas Eve, the rebels reportedly staged another attack, this time in the town of Alamada.  "The attacks came while the people were setting off firecrackers. The attackers timed their attacks during the revelry," said Ernesto Concepcion, mayor of Alamada, according to ABS-CBN television

The military said the rebels attacked other areas on Christmas Day, firing rocket-propelled grenades at power lines in Sultan Kudarat and looting.

"They ransacked the houses of civilians and extorted money from them. They even stole the guns of retired soldiers living in the area," Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Torres Jr., an army spokesman, said Friday.

The situation in a nutshell.

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.

Look Marge, more MUSLIM violence! Again. This time in the Philippines.

What a rat's nest the Southern Philippines is...there's more MUSLIM terror groups than you can shake a stick at and the silly Filipinos are trying to negotiate with them. Good luck with that.  Isn't it kind of ironic, though?  One of the so-called "peace negotiators" for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front  was killed in one of today's attacks.  There's no word on what he was doing hob-nobbing with Abu Sayyaf. 

In Basilan, Dolorfino said troops were running after the group of Abu Sayyaf leaders Furuji Indama and Nurhasan Jamiri, believed to have masterminded the kidnapping of Mendoza and Hupida, who were released last month purportedly upon payment of ransom.

He said the MILF, which has a camp in Al-Barka, might have reinforced the Abu Sayyaf bandits that led to the skirmishes.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu, however, denied their involvement in the kidnappings or that they were sheltering Abu Sayyaf militants. Kabalu accused the military of attacking the MILF camp in Al-Barka.“The military operation is intended to (target) the MILF in Basilan and we will fight it to defend ourselves,” Kabalu said.  Kabalu said three MILF rebels were killed and six wounded. The dead included Sattar Alih, a senior member of the rebel group’s peace negotiating panel with government.

Peace talks with the MILF were suspended following the attacks, which came after the Supreme Court blocked a deal that would have given the rebels control over an expanded autonomous region.

-snip-

“This operation is part of our campaign to flush out the Abu Sayyaf which is responsible for a series of kidnappings,” Cacho said. 

The Abu Sayyaf, notorious for beheading their hostages and who are on a US list of terrorist organizations with links to al-Qaeda, recently snatched seven construction workers, a 9-year-old girl and a nursing student on Basilan. Last September, the bandits snatched Mendoza and Hupida, workers of a volunteer aid group in Basilan.

They sound like a fine bunch of upstanding, young MUSLIM men, don't they?  Why not give them "control of an expanded autonomous region"?  Sheesh.