MMD: Who are the true terrorist(s)

Posting this video of the actual air strike to give others an idea of what civilians have to live with here in the Moro areas of Mindanao. This is also to show the extent of risks faced by both IDPs and those local NGOs who attend to them.... This footage was taken this afternoon when Akas, Haidie, and I visited an encampment of IDPs who sought shelter in Datu Piang to check on their condition. While we were there, I asked another colleague to post our running update. The first update was: "Now with civilians in Datu Piang. Helicopters and planes overhead firing their rockets and heavy guns several hundred meters away. I can see the anxiety and nervousness on the face of the civilians our team is with now. Children and their parents watch helplessly." Later on, I SMS'd "Gone are the smiles on the faces of the girls once the air strike began". I was referring to the young girls who were giggling and were amused at me taking their pictures. You won't be smiling too if this is what you are seeing and hearing.

Note the delay in the time you see the rocket being fired and the actual sound of it being fired. The sound that comes after that is the munition exploding after hitting the ground.

All along the town of Datu Piang and even on our way back to Cotabato City, I saw civilians watching these choppers unload their munitions at their targets in what we identified as the village of Damabalas. But the ones who watched with a truly anxious expression on their face were most likely IDPs from those villages being shelled or have families/relatives living there.

Also, both IDPs as well as residents of Datu Piang recount that from dawn until daylight this morning, there were around 200 rounds of 105mm howitzer artillery shells that fell in the nearby villages where the military thinks its target was holed up. The residents say they do not recall this intense bombardment in the past.