Manila deployes troops to contain rebels' clash<\/p>\n
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AFP): Government troops are to be
\ndispatched to contain a battle between rival Moro insurgent
\ngroups, the military said here, as police rounded up suspects of
\nan extremist group during a raid on a safehouse in Manila.<\/p>\n
A military report said 300 troops from the 6th infantry
\ndivision would be sent to the boundary of Palayan and Datu Piang
\ntowns in Maguindanao province to prevent the spread of fighting
\nbetween the main Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the
\nbreakaway Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF.)<\/p>\n
The deployment report came as three MNLF members were killed
\nin an exchange of mortar fire between them and MILF troops on
\nSaturday, bringing the death toll in a week of sporadic to seven,
\ndivision operations officer Maj. Vivencio Bataga said.<\/p>\n
\"Our troops will not interfere in their trouble but they are
\nto help contain it,\" Batega said, adding that 12 armored
\npersonnel carriers were also deployed with air reconnaissance
\nsupport.<\/p>\n
The warring camps are believed to have about a hundred men
\neach and are reportedly fighting over personal differences and
\nterritorial conflicts, Batega said.<\/p>\n
Military and police forces in the western district of
\nneighboring Zamboanga del Sur province went on alert Saturday
\nafter about 100 armed Moros, suspected to be members of the Abu
\nSayyaf Moro extremists, were sighted on board five boats in the
\nwaters close to the town of Ipil.<\/p>\n
The Abu Sayyaf led Moro gunmen in pillaging Ipil town in
\nApril, leaving about 50 dead.<\/p>\n
It was not clear if the armed Moros on the boats were linked
\nto the clash between the MILF and MNLF.<\/p>\n
The Abu Sayyaf and the MILF are both offshoots of the MNLF,
\nwhich waged a bloody war for a separate Moslem state in the 1970s
\nbut later signed a cease-fire with the government and is
\nnegotiating autonomy instead.<\/p>\n
However, Abu Sayyaf and the MILF are not covered by the cease-
\nfire agreement.<\/p>\n
In Manila, a combined police, military Justice Department
\nforce raided a suspected Abu Sayyaf safehouse on Saturday,
\narresting 17 suspects, including a police officer, and seizing
\nmarijuana and metamphetamine hydrochloride, a banned drug
\npopularly known as \"shabu.\"<\/p>\n
They also seized several pistols, rifles and shotguns as well
\nas ammunition and bullet-proof vests.<\/p>\n
Police senior superintendent Andres Garo said the suspects may
\nhave been engaged in drug trafficking and gun-running for profit.<\/p>",
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