RP says 15 dead in rebel bombing, raid

RP says 15 dead in rebel bombing, raid

Reuters, Cotabato, Philippines

The Philippine army said on Thursday a Moro rebel was killed while planting a bomb in a crowded market after guerrillas killed 14 villagers in another area of the southern island of Mindanao.

Hours after the blast in the market of Kabakan town, another bomb went off outside Awang airport in a nearby area of Mindanao, killing a soldier and wounding six other people, the army said.

Unidentified attackers set off a home-made bomb in a van outside the airport, the military said. The airport, which serves domestic carriers, was closed after the blast.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest of four Muslim separatist groups in the largely Roman Catholic country, denied involvement in any of the incidents.

The explosions and deaths of the 14 people in the village of Tubud came after thousands of troops captured an MILF stronghold near Pikit town, about 800 km (500 miles) south of Manila, last week after five days of fierce fighting.

In the Kabakan blast, a home-made bomb went off while a 17- year-old youth alleged to be an MILF guerrilla was carrying it wrapped in a jacket, officials said.

"The bomber was killed. It was a premature explosion while he was trying to plant the device in the market," Major Julieto Ando told Reuters by telephone.

Ten people were wounded, officials said.

The military said the villagers died on Wednesday evening when about 50 suspected MILF guerrillas fired on the settlement with machineguns and grenade launchers, burned six houses and shot residents.

"We still cannot determine the group responsible for the attack (in Tubud village) but there are indications that they belong to the MILF," Western Mindanao military commander Major General Glicerio Sua told reporters.

But Eid Kabalu, a spokesman for the rebels, denied the MILF was targeting civilians.

"This is all military propaganda. The bombing in Kabakan is due to local politics," he told Reuters by phone. "There were skirmishes between our men and the military in Tubud. Our target was the military."

He said he had no details of who was killed in Tubud.

Kabalu also denied any role in the Awang airport blast, saying it might been prompted by a business rivalry.