MILF rebels take hostages, fighting spreads in RP south

MILF rebels take hostages, fighting spreads in RP south

Agence France-Presse, Cotabato, Philippines

Fighting spread in the southern Philippines on Thursday, three
days into a major military offensive as Muslim separatist
guerrillas took civilian hostages and combat deaths soared past
100, officials said.

About 50 gunmen attacked the village of Bual near Tulunan town
on Mindanao island early Thursday and took a number of residents
as "human shields" against the military, army spokesman Major
Julieto Ando told reporters.

One hostage and four Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)
fighters were killed and four civilians were wounded before the
rebels withdrew from the town, the military said.

Ando said the rebels, who were mainly foraging for food,
eventually released all their captives.

Meanwhile a group of about 35 MILF fighters were killed when
the military repulsed an attack on a detachment near Lambayong
town, some 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of Tulunan, Ando said.

The fleeing guerrillas then took about 20 residents with them
as protection against military attack. The captives were later
abandoned as the MILF forces fled into the nearby Liguasan Marsh,
local military commander Col. Agustin Dimaala said.

Officials said the fresh clashes and hostage-taking were an
attempt by the MILF to escape the massive military offensive to
capture one of their largest enclaves.

President Gloria Arroyo ordered a major military offensive on
Mindanao island on Tuesday to seize the Buliok complex, an MILF-
held village on the edge of the Liguasan Marsh that the military
alleged was being used as sanctuary by terrorist bombers and
kidnappers.

The death toll from the fighting so far has risen to 148, with
138 guerrillas and their allies killed. Seven government troops
and three civilians have also been slain, officials said, adding
that the bodies of 43 guerrillas had been recovered.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said 12 of their fighters were
killed in Lambayong and five were slain elsewhere. He also said
10 soldiers had been killed.

Despite the MILF's losses, Kabalu said "our forces on the
ground are sufficient to defend themselves and their
communities," adding that they were resorting to guerrilla
tactics.

MILF vice chairman for political affairs Ghadzali Jaafar said
he had written to an aide of President Arroyo to offer a
suspension of fighting if the government would stop shooting
first.

"The MILF is asking the government to disengage its troops
from attacking MILF positions. We will do the same once (the
truce) is in place," Jaafar said over local radio station DXMS.
This could lead to the reopening of stalled peace talks, he said.

Arroyo's spokesman Ignacio Bunye said in Manila that "the
window for a ceasefire dialogue is always open."

He reiterated that the attack was not aimed at the MILF but
was targeting criminal groups who had been given refuge in MILF
territory.

Arroyo stressed that "we have to strike at the lairs of the
most incorrigible criminals holding hostage entire communities."
"I appeal to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to help us achieve
such a lasting peace in Mindanao," she said.

The fighting has displaced more than 30,000 civilians of at
least three towns in the Cotabato basin.

Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said three ailing
children who sought refuge in government-run evacuation centers
had since died.

She said she ordered measles vaccinations for all children in
these areas, and the setting up of a "tent city."