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Philippine Police Raid Muslim Autonomous Region Governor's Home
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines, July 19 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Philippine police on Thursday raided a residential compound owned by a regional governor who heads one of the country's main Muslim groups, news agencies reported.
Nur Misuari, chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) - a former separatist group that signed a pact with the government in 1996 - was not home during the raid, the French news agency AFP reported.
The raid at Misuari's family compound on the outskirts of Zamboanga focused on a shack used by a man police identified as Assah Asmawil, AFP added, as police claimed they did not enter Misuari's house.
No arrests were made as Asmawil had left the city four days earlier, claimed Chief Inspector Jose Bayani Gucela.
Asmawil is allegedly suspected of selling ammunition and firearms to the Abu Sayyaf, a group holding 21 American and Filipino hostages in the nearby island of Basilan.
"Our target here is not Nur Misuari, it is not his family members, but Assah Asmawil, who we believe is involved in selling firearms, weapons and ammunition of Abu Sayyaf group in Basilan," Gucela said, quoted by AFP.
But, the police did not say how Asmawil might be connected to Misuari.
Only members of the MNLF are allowed to live in Misuari's residential compound, according to locals.
Misuari's aide, Jamasali Abdurahman, said the raid was "a blatant violation" of the government's peace agreement recognizing Misuari as chairman of a special autonomous region of Muslim-dominated provinces in the south.
"This will have a very serious effect," he added. A formal complaint would be filed, he added.
Jamasali also denied knowing anyone by the name of Assah Asmawil.
The police allegedly seized arms marked as having come from a government arsenal. Misuari's spokesman, Majindra Mahilon, said that ammunition found within Misuari's compound were for the use of Misuari's 10 security escorts.
Misuari was in the southern island of Jolo during the raid, but his wife, Tarhata Ibrahim, was in the house.
President Gloria Arroyo's spokesman, Rigoberto Tiglao, said the presidential palace was looking into the incident, AFP reported.
Tiglao said this should not affect the peace accord with the MNLF, which installed Misuari as governor of a Muslim autonomous area and absorbed a limited number of MNLF members into the military and police.
Military spokesman Colonel Danilo Servando said they would investigate the origin of the allegedly seized ammunition to see whether it really came from the government arsenal.
Servando claimed the crates the police allegedly seized in the shack may have been captured during hostilities with the MNLF years ago, but they could also be a sign that soldiers were selling bullets on the black market, or that MNLF fighters absorbed into the military were diverting ammunition to Misuari.
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