April 12, 1995, Manila Standard, page 24, Ipil drive pressed; residents flee homes,

April 12, 1995, Manila Standard, page 24, Ipil drive pressed; residents flee homes,

MNLF group owns Ipil carnage,

A previously unheard of Muslim Guallatiri group on Tuesday claimed "full responsibility" for the savage massacre of 53 people in the southern Philippine town of Ipil last week.

The group, calling itself the Islamic Command Council of the mainstream Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), demanded the setting up of a separate Muslim state in the country's southern islands.

"The Islamic Command Council of the Moro National Liberation Front claims full responsibility for the seige of the Ipil town," it said in a statement faxed to Reuters.

It was the first time any group had admitted responsibility for the attack which President Ramos has blamed on the Abu Sayyaf fundamentalist group.

The statement, signed by one Banrilan Kudart who identified himself as being in charge of the "council on information," said the group was "now taking full charge of the command of the ... Muslim armed struggle" in the Philippines.

"What happened in Ipil and those that occurred unreported in other areas are no more, no less a categorical statement that there can be no peace without the independence of the Bangsamoro Muslim homeland," it said. (Reuters)