GOVERNMENT troops have overran the fortified main camp of lawless elements of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s (MILF) 113th Base Command led by Wanning Abdul Salam in Zamboanga Sibugay, military officials said on Thursday.

But Maj. Gen. Noe Coballes, First Infantry “Tabak” Division commander, said Salam and his men were nowhere to be found inside the camp.

“He [Salam] was able to extricate while the troops were advancing, but we’re verifying this because there were reports that he was severely wounded. He cannot walk,” Coballes said.

The MILF leadership has already disowned Salam, leader of the rebel group’s Special Operations Group  and his men, who were being hunted for the crimes of murder, extortion and kidnapping, including the ambushes last week that killed government security forces in the towns of Alicia and Kabasalan.

The military said there is no area of temporary stay for Moro rebels in Zamboanga Sibugay.

Lt. Gen. Arturo Ortiz, Army commander, said a company of Scout Rangers was leading four other companies in the clearing and pursuit operations against Salam and his men who were believed to have fled into the marsh area.

Maj. Gen. Jose Mabanta Jr., Armed Forces deputy chief of staff for operations (J-3), said the marsh area is much wider than the size of the land in the war zone.

At least four patrol gunboats of the Navy sealed off the sea routes from Zamboanga Sibugay.

“As of this time, the main camp of the enemy has been occupied by our troops. Four companies are following the leading Scout Ranger Company. They are now clearing the area as land mines and homemade bombs were left by the enemy,” Ortiz said.

He confirmed intelligence reports about the situation of Salam.

“Wanning could not walk because he was badly wounded. He fled with around 40 of his men who were injured by the air strikes and artillery fire,” Ortiz said.

Aquino orders Cabinet men to Mindanao

PRESIDENT Aquino has directed Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman and Chief Peace Adviser Teresita Deles to personally assess the situation in Zamboanga Sibugay and Basilan on Friday.

Secretary Ramon Carandang of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office told reporters that the three officials have been instructed to hold peace and order council meetings in the affected areas, to be attended by local government and law-enforcement officials.

“We just want to know what’s happening. We want to get the latest information on the ground about how the operations are doing. It’s one thing to hear about it when we’re here. It’s another when you’re actually seeing the results. They want to get a firsthand look at how the operations are going,” Carandang said.

He said the President ordered the officials to conduct the inspection and assessment visit after the Armed Forces deemed the areas safe.

“There are three things: How are the law-enforcement operations proceeding? How are we taking care of the people who have been temporarily displaced? And how good is the coordination between the national and local governments with the security forces? So they will do an assessment on the ground of those things,” he said.

Carandang said the Cabinet officials would report to the President afterward.

When asked, Carandang said Malacañang “is satisfied with the pace of the action against the lawless elements.”

Government forces continue to scour the area where the “lawless elements” encamped.

Police and military officials said the number of casualties from the side of the bandits could be higher as they found 15 freshly dug graves at Sitio Talaib, Barangay Labatan in Payao, Zamboanga Sibugay, where the camp of Salam and his group was located.

Col. Arnulfo Burgos, Armed Forces spokesman, said teams of policemen and soldiers have already recovered at least 10 landmines from the camp and the clearing operations were still continuing.

Government authority re-established

LT. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer, Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command chief, declared: “The safe haven of kidnapping operations and terrorist activities in Zamboanga Sibugay has finally fallen.”

“We have re-established [government] authority in this part of Payao and we owe it to the joint forces, Army, Air Force, Navy and the police who fought long and hard,” he said as he visited the place along with Vice Adm. Armando Guzman, commander of Naval Forces Western Mindanao, and Chief Supt. Elpidio de Asis, Western Mindanao police commander.

But while the camp had been taken, officials could not say whether Salam was among those killed, being the principal target of the operations, or he had escaped. Policemen and soldiers could not find him or even that of his body.

Ferrer said the troops are exerting efforts to locate the wounded bandits who may have slipped the cordon during the night since the camp was empty when the soldiers occupied the area.

He said there are 15 freshly dug graves in the cemetery where the fatalities were hastily buried at the height of the firefight. “I gave instructions to our soldiers not to disturb the graves anymore,” he said.

Ferrer said the southern side of Sitio Talaib “is actually the strong point of the criminals as there is a small mosque and blood is everywhere.”

Ferrer believed the southern side is where Salam and his men “brought their wounded and dying comrades.”

(With M. Gonzalez, R. Acosta and B. Garcia Jr.