RP rebels step up attacks

RP rebels step up attacks

MANILA (AFP): Separatist rebels have stepped up attacks in the southern Philippines this week as the government prepares to hold peace talks, the armed forces said on Friday.

The attacks by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), in which four soldiers were killed and three civilians wounded, were meant to force Manila into agreeing to hold formal negotiations abroad, armed forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Ernesto Carolina said.

President Joseph Estrada this week rejected a demand by the MILF to hold talks on "neutral ground" abroad, possibly in Indonesia, Malaysia, Libya, Egypt or Saudi Arabia.

The MILF want to set up a separate state in Mindanao, the large southern island which comprises a third of the Philippine archipelago and is home to a large Muslim minority of more than four million.