22 die in RP fighting

22 die in RP fighting

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (Reuter): Philippine troops backed by
helicopter gunships killed at least 20 Moro rebels in fierce
fighting on southern Mindanao island, the military said
yesterday.

Two soldiers died and four others were wounded in fighting
that erupted yesterday around the town of Buldon in Maguindanao
province, about 800 kilometer south of Manila, an official
military report said.

Seven army helicopters, firing rockets and machine-guns,
backed ground troops in the clashes involving hundreds of
soldiers and about 400 guerrillas of the Moro Islamic Liberation
Front (MILF), which is fighting for an Islamic state in Mindanao
and the adjacent islands.

The MILF is a breakaway faction of the mainstream Moro
National Liberation Front, which concluded a peace deal with
President Fidel Ramos' government in October last year.