RP says 15 dead in rebel bombing, raid<\/p>\n
Reuters, Cotabato, Philippines<\/p>\n
The Philippine army said on Thursday a Moro rebel was killed
\nwhile planting a bomb in a crowded market after guerrillas killed
\n14 villagers in another area of the southern island of Mindanao.<\/p>\n
Hours after the blast in the market of Kabakan town, another
\nbomb went off outside Awang airport in a nearby area of Mindanao,
\nkilling a soldier and wounding six other people, the army said.<\/p>\n
Unidentified attackers set off a home-made bomb in a van
\noutside the airport, the military said. The airport, which serves
\ndomestic carriers, was closed after the blast.<\/p>\n
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest of four
\nMuslim separatist groups in the largely Roman Catholic country,
\ndenied involvement in any of the incidents.<\/p>\n
The explosions and deaths of the 14 people in the village of
\nTubud came after thousands of troops captured an MILF stronghold
\nnear Pikit town, about 800 km (500 miles) south of Manila, last
\nweek after five days of fierce fighting.<\/p>\n
In the Kabakan blast, a home-made bomb went off while a 17-
\nyear-old youth alleged to be an MILF guerrilla was carrying it
\nwrapped in a jacket, officials said.<\/p>\n
\"The bomber was killed. It was a premature explosion while he
\nwas trying to plant the device in the market,\" Major Julieto Ando
\ntold Reuters by telephone.<\/p>\n
Ten people were wounded, officials said.<\/p>\n
The military said the villagers died on Wednesday evening when
\nabout 50 suspected MILF guerrillas fired on the settlement with
\nmachineguns and grenade launchers, burned six houses and shot
\nresidents.<\/p>\n
\"We still cannot determine the group responsible for the
\nattack (in Tubud village) but there are indications that they
\nbelong to the MILF,\" Western Mindanao military commander Major
\nGeneral Glicerio Sua told reporters.<\/p>\n
But Eid Kabalu, a spokesman for the rebels, denied the MILF
\nwas targeting civilians.<\/p>\n
\"This is all military propaganda. The bombing in Kabakan is
\ndue to local politics,\" he told Reuters by phone. \"There were
\nskirmishes between our men and the military in Tubud. Our target
\nwas the military.\"<\/p>\n
He said he had no details of who was killed in Tubud.<\/p>\n
Kabalu also denied any role in the Awang airport blast, saying
\nit might been prompted by a business rivalry.<\/p>",
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