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."