A Muslim separatist rebel leader who sacked a string of southern Philippine towns in 2008, leaving about 400 dead and more than half a million homeless, is dead, the military said on Wednesday. Ameril Umbra Kato formed the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and led the rampage after splitting from the nation’s main rebel group, the Moro Islamic liberation Front (MIlF), in anger over a planned peace deal.
The rebel leader, believed to be in his late 60s, suffered a fatal stroke early yesterday, leaving behind an armed force of about 150 guerrillas, military spokesman Colonel Harold Cabunoc told AFP. “We’re 99.9 per cent sure he’s dead. We just don’t have the body,” he said, citing three “assets” close to Umbra Kato’s organisation. BIFF spokesman Abu Missry Mama also confirmed Umbra Kato’s death, in a telephone call to a Manila television station.