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.