A MILITARY commander yesterday pointed to the continued failure of the United States to locate Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to explain the failure to locate and get Ameril Umbra Kato of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

"Not even America could find Bin Laden with all their technical (capabilities)," said Col. Marlou Salazar, commander of the Army’s 601st Brigade who is supervising the operations against Kato.

"It’s just an analogy," Salazar added.

American forces launched attacks against Bin Laden in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001 bombings in US that killed thousands.

The government is offering a P10 million bounty for Kato, leader of the MILF’s 105th Base Command based in Maguindanao, who led attacks in 15 barangays in North Cotabato in July.

Kato has uploaded a video on YouTube, taunting the military which he said has run out of strategies to get him, as shown by the bounty offer.

Two other commanders, Abdulrahman Macapaar alias Bravo of the 102nd Base Command and Aleem Pangalian of the 103rd Base Command, are being pursued for their attacks in Iligan City and four towns in Lanao del Norte in August. The attacks killed 28 civilians, three soldiers and a policeman.

Bravo has a P10 million bounty on his head and Pangalian, P5 million.

The military offensive was first mounted on August 10 to drive out Kato and his men from the North Cotabato barangays. The military mission was completed in three days.

Another offensive was mounted on August 18 after the Lanao del Norte attacks.

The operations against Kato are concentrated in a marshy area in Maguindanao, against Bravo at the outskirts in Lanao del Norte, and Pangalian in Sarangani.

Salazar said government forces are facing difficulties in running after Kato who he said is believed to be hiding at the Liguasan marsh.

"We are careful there because they can hide in the water lilies…We are not good at hide and seek," he said.

But he said Kato’s movement is limited to the marshland.

"He cannot move out because we have constricted the areas he traditionally uses and he could not even organize a bigger force," he said.

Salazar said Kato’s group has splintered into small groups. "So to identify his location, you must have to fight all forces who are guarding him. That (engaging Kato’s men) is delaying our movement," he added.

Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres, chief of the AFP public affairs office, said many rebels have left their leaders because they could not see victory coming their way.

"They got frustrated because they were promised that once they become victorious, they will sooner or later have their own armed forces and they are going to receive P20,000," said Torres.

The government last month disbanded its panel in the peace talks with the MILF. This followed its decision to abandon a memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain that was supposed to be signed in early August but stopped by the Supreme Court.

Torres said the military has severely degraded the rebels’ capability to launch bigger attacks.

He also said at least 30 government troops have died and about a hundred were injured in the operations. He said troops have inflicted casualties on the MILF side but could not give figures, saying the military is "not in the business" of counting enemy bodies.

The PNP sent a battalion (300 to 400 men) each from the Special Action Force and the Regional Mobile Group to threat areas in Mindanao to limit the movements of lawless MILF groups and other criminal elements.

With this, residents will see more chokepoints and checkpoints, said PNP chief Jesus Verzosa.

Verzosa said he will fly to Mindanao sometime this week to supervise the activation of "integrated police operation (IPO)" units in the eastern and western parts of the region.