Below is an article by GMA News:

Just two weeks after it signed a peace deal with the government, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front on Tuesday [15 April 2014] denounced the killings of four of its members, who could have been mistaken for the enemy in a military clash with the Abu Sayyaf Group.

The four were among 20 people killed in a firefight in Basilan on Friday [12 April 2014].

"Four of our members were martyred," MILF vice chairman Ghazali Jaafar told reporters.

Officials have said the clashes broke out while local MILF members were helping the military to arrest the ASG fighters.

“The MILF has asked an international committee monitoring the ceasefire between the Philippines and the rebel group to investigate who was to blame for Friday's violence”, Jaafar said.

In a phone interview with reporters, Jaafar acknowledged that the MILF members were not the actual targets, but that they were caught in the fight.

The MILF official said the AFP should have conducted surveillance first before launching the attack. "You must know beforehand before taking action...That is basic in the military," he said.

“The MILF must know and the GPH [government of the Philippines] must know because if this mistake was due to a mistake of someone in the AFP, then this must be remedied,” he added.

Military spokesmen said 18 gunmen from the MILF and Abu Sayyaf were killed. Two soldiers died and 28 others were wounded.

The fighting broke out two weeks after the MILF signed a political settlement to end more than four decades of an armed conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

The peace deal aims to create an autonomous Muslim area in the south by early next year [2015], with the MILF expected to disarm and put up candidates for a regional parliament in May 2016.

On Tuesday [15 April 2014], Malacañang received the draft of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), which will formalize the creation of the Bangsamoro political entity that will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The draft BBL, which was crafted by the 15-member Bangsamoro Transition Commission, was based on the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro signed late March [2014].

The Palace had said the Office of Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs will review the draft then submit it to Congress.
Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala said the operation had been coordinated with MILF officials, and that it targeted Abu Sayyaf members who are not covered by any ceasefire.

But he said that at one point, the soldiers noticed that the Abu Sayyaf gunmen were being reinforced by unidentified fighters.

"If there were MILF forces, they were never meant as a target... It is possible they joined [the Abu Sayyaf] as individuals and not as MILF [members]," he told AFP.

His statement echoed that of AFP spokesperson Major General Domingo Tutaan Jr. In an interview on Monday [14 April 2014], he said that there was close coordination between 104th Infantry Brigade commander Brigadier General Carlito Galvez and MILF 114th Base Command chief Dan Laksaw before the military conducted the operation.

“I would say they can be former MILF members who left or former MILF members who broke away from MILF itself and engaged in criminal activities. It's not correct to say it's MILF per se. It's probably individuals on their own accord who are part of these activities,” Tutaan said of the four fatalities.

Military chief of staff General Emmanuel Bautista also alleged on Tuesday [15 April 2014] that a small number of MILF fighters had helped relatives in the Abu Sayyaf ranks.

"It's not MILF per se because we are in touch with the MILF. There were individuals [who acted] in their personal capacity because they have relatives [in the Abu Sayyaf]," said Bautista, who visited the troops in Basilan Tuesday [15 April 2014].

"The MILF should deal with them," he told reporters.