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.