The group behind the abduction of Father Michael Sinnott may be out to sabotage the resumption of peace talks between the government (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff, Gen. Victor Ibrado said Friday.

Ibrado also said that intelligence reports indicate those holding the Irish priest could be rogue members of the MILF.

In an interview at Camp Aguinaldo, Ibrado said it is possible that the October 11 kidnapping of Fr. Sinnott is not a simple case of kidnapping for ransom but an attempt to scuttle the peace talks.

“There are some elements na (MILF) or maybe they are no longer part of (MILF) na hindi naman nila (MILF leadersip) nako-control, these are rogue elements,” Ibrado said, adding “Alam naman natin in the past na there are people like that na maybe simply for the reason of KFR or maybe they want to sabotage the peace talks.”

The AFP chief, at the same time, said that he “cannot say Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno’s statement was not correct as they also have their sources.”

Puno earlier accused an MILF unit as directly behind the abduction of Sinnott.

“There are a lot of reports pointing to the possibility that the people holding Father Sinnot are MILF but we have to prove that,” said Ibrado.

The MILF strongly denied having a hand in the case of Fr. Sinnott.

“They are denying it . . . hindi ko din pwede masabi na nagsisinungaling sila . . . so they have to prove na hindi nga nila kasama,” Ibrado said.

Meanwhile, the AFP Chief of Staff said the military is awaiting word from the crisis management committee (CMC) for the conduct of a rescue operation for Fr. Sinnot.