Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

MORO ISLAMIC LIBERATION FRONT • 439ist parties to form the Partido Unificación Democrática (DemocraticUnification Party). In the 27 November 2005 general elections, theDemocratic Unification Party placed third in the presidential election,with its candidate, Juan Ángel Almendares Bonilla, receivingonly 1.5 percent of the vote; it also placed third in the National Congress,gaining five seats out of 128 in the legislature.MORO ISLAMIC LIBERATION FRONT (MILF). The MILF wasa splinter group of the Moro Liberation Front that broke awaywhen the latter accepted a cease-fire with the Philippine governmentin 1987 that dissidents viewed as a sellout of the goal of full autonomyor even independence for the Muslim-inhabited regions of thePhilippines. While the Moro Liberation Front was more of an ethnonationalistgroup, the MILF was Islamic fundamentalist in characterand sought implementation of Islamic law within the desiredMoro autonomous region. Following 1987 the MILF would becomethe leading Moro guerrilla group, surpassing both the Moro LiberationFront and the much smaller Abu Sayyaf Group in members andoperations. Although the MILF leaders deny any organic connectionwith al Qa’eda or the al Qa’eda–affiliated Jemaah Islamiyah groupof Indonesia, they did admit that several MILF volunteers trained inal Qa’eda camps in Afghanistan and in Jemaah Islamiyah camps.After the MILF concluded a cease-fire agreement with the Philippinegovernment in 1997, hostilities resumed under Philippine PresidentJoseph Estrada in 2000 until another cease-fire was concludedunder President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2003. In January 2005a hundred MILF rebels, along with several Abu Sayyaf fighters,attacked government troops in Maguindanao Province, killing 23soldiers and causing the displacement of hundreds of civilians. Abombing of the motorcade of General Andal Ampatuan on 23 June2006 led to more clashes between MILF fighters and governmenttroops along with progovernment civilian volunteer militias, lastinguntil 6 July 2006, when another cease-fire was concluded. The kidnappingof an Italian Roman Catholic priest, Fr. Giancarlo Bossi, on10 July 2007 led to renewed MILF clashes with government troopsin which at least four MILF members and 14 Philippine Marineswere killed. The MILF denied involvement in the kidnapping of Fr.Bossi, who was eventually released unharmed on 19 July 2007. TheMILF leaders blamed the kidnapping of Fr. Bossi on the Abu Sayyaf