Timeline of the Moro conflict

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a chronology of the Moro conflict, a low level conflict in the southern Philippines, involving jihadist groups such as the Abu Sayyaf Group, the Maute Group, Jemaah Islamiyah, and Islamic State affiliates, mainstream separatist groups such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), and the Philippine Government since 1971. Much of the fighting has been concentrated on the island of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago, with spillover incidents and attacks occurring in the Philippine capital Manila and neighboring countries such as Malaysia.

As of 2019, the conflict has ended between separatist groups, but the Islamic State Insurgency continues.

1968

1969

1970s

1971

  • 19 June – Suspected members of an extremist Christian group Ilagas ("Rats") storm in a mosque in Carmen, Cotabato, where Moslems are waiting for a scheduled conference between the warring communities, and gun them down. At least 65 Moslems, including 13 children and 29 women, are killed.[2]

1972

  • 28 June – early July – Bands of Moslem Barracudas, reportedly travelling by motorized boats from the Sulu Archipelago to southwestern Mindanao, raid coastal villages in Zamboanga del Sur;[2] particularly about 100 in two villages in Mabuhay and one in Dimataling.[4] A total of 58–67 Christians are reported massacred;[2][4] another hundred are injured.[4] The attacks are an apparent reprisal for the killing of Moslems by Ilagas in the province.[4]
    • Early July – Raiders enter Dimataling, hack the Christian mayor to death, and kill two policemen and six soldiers.[2]
  • 21 September – President Ferdinand Marcos imposes martial law;[5] its principal reasons are the existence of armed conflict between Muslims and Christians and a Muslim "secessionist movement" in the country's south. However, in fact, within months prior, neither serious incidents of sectarian violence nor activities by the MIM have been reported; the imposition results in an armed Muslim insurgency against the state, and leads to hostilities in Muslim Mindanao.[1]
  • Mid-October:
    • Marcos announces being prepared to deploy all troops in the country's south to "annihilate" outlaws if all guns would not be surrendered prior to 25 October deadline.[1]
    • Marawi, Lanao del Sur, is attacked by more than 400 armed Maranaos who would be defeated by army forces after three days.[1]
  • Late October – Fighting begins between Muslim rebels and government soldiers in Cotabato.[1]
  • November – Marcos sends thousands of troops to Mindanao. By month's end, fierce clashes with separatist rebels are occurring throughout the country's south.[1]
  • 26 November – Battle in Sibalu Hill resulted a defeat for the Philippine Marine Corps including 43 Marines killed[6]
  • 27 November – An encounter occurs in a hill on Jolo island; government forces suffer defeat.[7]
  • 24 December – A Philippine Air Force C-47 with a crew of seven is shot down by Moslem dissidents during a fighting in southern Sulu.[8]
  • 26 December – The military reports that since September, at least 46 soldiers and 92 Moslem dissidents have been killed, and there are half a million refugees in areas of Mindanao, in the ongoing fighting.[8]
  • Late December – A military strike force overruns a rebel training camp in eastern Mindanao with 40 rebels killed.[7]
  • 28 December – Government troops attacks the guerrilla stronghold on Jolo island; military's victory reported. Officials report at least 14 troops are killed and more than 20 are wounded.[7]
  • 30 December:
    • A government patrol kills 25 rebels in Basilan City, Zamboanga del Sur.[9]
    • Military forces captures Sibalo Hill on Jolo island, used as training camp an command post by Moslem rebels, after a massive assault.[9]
  • As political groups are banned, martial law causes the dissolution of aboveground organizations as the MIM and Nurul Islam. The underground MNLF is then activated, and will be involved in the developing insurgency by yearend.[1]
  • 2 January:
    • President Marcos calls a peace conference with about 200 Moslem leaders to forge a peace alliance between the national government and minority Filipino Moslems in Mindanao and Sulu. He likewise plans a next day's conference with 170 leaders to explain his order allowing barter trade between the country's south and Borneo.[9]
    • The military announces that in the past two weeks, fighting has resulted in the deaths of 38 Moslem dissidents and 10 government troops in 12 encounters.[9]

1973

  • By that year, the entire core leadership of the MNLF is operating from abroad. Misuari has left Manila after the imposition of martial law, fleeing to Sabah and to Libya.[1]

1974

  • By that year, the MNLF central committee has almost all of its members in Tripoli, Libya. Its chairman and vice-chairman are Misuari and Salamat, respectively. Immediately after the start of martial law, Salamat and his companions are forced underground when Datu Udtug signs an "affidavit" against them, which is turned over to the Philippine Army; shortly, the group joins forces with Misuari, and Salamat goes to Tripoli. Meanwhile, Abul Khayr Alonto, member of a prominent Maranao family, is the overall field commander of the Bangsa Moro Army, being among the few top leaders to remain in the country. The MNLF's military branch probably has between 10,000 and 30,000 men.[1]
  • February – In the fiercest engagement of the Moslem conflict, Jolo, Sulu, is burnt to the ground by the military.[5]
  • 20 June – Moslem guerrilla attacks begin in central Mindanao area.[10]
    • On 20 June, insurgents stage a mortar attack on an airport in Cotabato City; fighting occurs near the area the following day,[10] with an ambush on an army patrol in Tunuel that kills 17 soldiers.[11]
    • On 20 June, rebels attack the Maria Cristina Falls hydroelectric plant which is slightly damaged by an explosion. Two workers are killed and a guard is injured.[10]
    • Rebels simultaneously attack the barrios in Midsayap and Pikit in Cotabato.[11] In Midsayap, a raid on 20 June kills four soldiers;[10] more than 19,000 persons are evacuated within 6 days.[11]
    • On 21 June, a force of Moslem, Christian, and Bilaat tribesmen attacks Makilala, Cotabato, killing 12 villagers.[10]
    • By 21 June, thirty-one bodies of slain Christians are reported found during a 10-day trek by refugee families in Cotabato.[10]
  • 19 November – A battle n Karundung resulted in 19 Philippine Marine killed and 14 wounded.[12]
  • 20 or 28 December – Moslem rebels capture a logging camp in Zamboanga City[13] and hold at least 63 people.[14] The hostage-taking would last until early January 1975.[14]

1975

  • 10 January – A battle on Moslem insurgents on the isolated camp in north of Zamboanga City, results in the deaths of the rebel leader and two others.[14] Later, 56 Christian workers in a logging camp, among those held since late December, are found killed; their bodies have been either mutilated or beheaded by guerrillas after failed negotiations for their release.[5][15][14] The massacre is one of the deadliest single incident in the conflict.[5]
  • 13 January – Rebels attack Marawi, Lanao del Sur, attempting to destroy a radio station and the Moslem Information Center of the Mindanao State University.[5]
  • 14 January – Moslem guerrillas wipe out at least 40 troops in Maimbung, Sulu, also one of the deadliest single attacks. Thereafter, the Philippine Air Force attacks rebel positions in the Jolo island.[5]
  • January:
    • The Air Force launches air strikes against rebels, who have launched mortar attacks against a training base and headquarters of the Central Mindanao Command in Cotabato City.[5]
    • The military enters the western coast of the Zamboanga peninsula area in an attempt to prevent the gunrunners in supplying the rebels. At the same time, a rebel presence is reported in Pagadian, Zamboanga del Sur.[5]
    • A Filipino team, headed by executive secretary Alejandro Melchor, meets with the MNLF in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Among the members of negotiating team is Rear Admiral Romulo Espaldon, commander of the southwestern Mindanao area. The seven-member team includes Dr. Cesar Majul, head of the Liberal Arts Department of the University of the Philippines; a Moslem; and government officials. The MNLF is represented by its spokesmen, Hashim Salamat of Cotabato, and Hdul Hamid Lukman, a former judge in Maimbung, Sulu. Neither their departure nor the meeting is announced by the national government; the news on the fighting is not reported by the government-controlled media.[5]
  • 9 March – The military reports that an attack is launched against Moslem insurgents—an estimated 4,000—in northeast Basilan, while a clash in Jolo, Sulu, results in the deaths of three soldiers and four civilians. At that time, MNLF has 16,000 armed men; and these insurgents have killed at least 1,750 government troops.[16]
  • 12 March:
    • The social welfare department issues official figures on refugees in Mindanao for the first time following the government lifting of a news blackout on the hostilities two weeks prior. It shows that more than a million persons—comprising almost 185,000 families—has evacuated from their homes in 7 cities and 11 provinces; most of them are from South Cotabato, Zamboanga City, and Sulu.[17]
    • The defense department, on its latest progress report on fighting in Basilan concentrating on about 4,000 rebels, says that the troops have repulsed sporadic rebel attacks and have inflicted "moderate casualties" on the insurgents. Military figures earlier report that 106 insurgents have been killed in the island.[17]
  • August – A truck is ambushed in Misamis Oriental; 32 Moslem passengers are reported killed.[18]

1976

  • By early February, unofficial count by the Roman Catholic priests on casualties runs as high as 13,000, which includes soldiers, rebels, and civilians.[18]
  • 1 February – A gang of about 25 Moslems ambush a bus at north of Zamboanga City, while travelling to Ipil, Zamboanga del Sur, killing 25 persons and wounding 30.[18]
  • Negotiations between the national government and the Moro rebels is held in Tripoli, Libya, and is also participated by the Organization of Islamic Conference. An agreement on autonomy is reaches later that year, but would be disagreed in follow-up talks in Manila in April 1977.[19]

1977

  • By that year, the government estimates that there are as many as million displaced civilians in the country's south and at least 200,000 more who have fled to Sabah, Malaysia.[1]
  • October – A general and 34 soldiers, who are trying to negotiate with a Moslem chief, ate killed in Sulu. The armed forces conducts a campaign on the whole island thereafter.[19]
  • December – Salamat, also rebel chief of the Maguindanao community, decides to challenge the leadership of MNLF chairman Misuari. Salamat and Misuari is supported by Egypt and Libya, respectively.[19]

1978

1980s

1990s and later

References

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