RP troops clash with MNLF, 12 killed

RP troops clash with MNLF, 12 killed

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AFP): Twelve people were killed
Thursday during a gunfight between soldiers and former Moro
separatist rebels in the southern Philippines city of Marawi, the
military said.

Ten of the dead were civilians and the two others were former
members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), army Col.
Antonio Seville said.

The gunmen claimed six soldiers were also killed but this
could not be independently confirmed.

The fighting erupted before dawn Thursday when a battalion of
infantry moved into a Marawi neighborhood after residents
complained of a heavy presence of ex-MNLF gunmen.

Numbering around 30, the gunmen led by ex-MNLF commander
Mitomara Amir Sadic opened fire when soldiers tried to disarm
them, triggering heavy fighting.

They then briefly held hostage several civilians, including
women and children, and later torched part of a commercial
building they had taken over in the city's market area.

Soldiers, backed by armored vehicles, surrounded the building
at noon and exchanged gunfire with the rebels, who ignored
appeals from Muslim elders to surrender but freed the civilians.

Thirty-two gunmen, including their leader Sadic, were
arrested. Four among them were injured.

Ten civilians were killed in the crossfire and two soldiers
were hurt, the military said.

The military had to evacuate about 100 families at the height
of the intermittent battle which lasted 14 hours.

Seville said the standoff ended shortly before sundown at
about 5:00 pm (1600 Jakarta time), when the military mounted a
final assault and stormed the building.

"We captured dozens of gunmen and lawless elements after the
soldiers assaulted the building. We are in full control of the
situation and we are in the process of interrogating the lawless
group," Seville said.

MNLF official Abdurrahman Jamasali denounced the army assault.

"The raid is a serious violation of the 1996 peace accord,"
under which the MNLF ended 24 years of separatist rebellion and
accepted limited self-rule in four southern provinces, Jamasali
told reporters here.

About 7,500 MNLF fighters were integrated into the military
and police forces following the peace deal, while MNLF leaders
were elected to key positions in the autonomous government. But
the rest of the rebel force refused to disarm.

Jamasali, the interior undersecretary of the regional
government, said the MNLF would raise a protest with the national
government.
" The military should have coordinated first with the MNLF"
before entering Marawi, which is part of the Autonomous Region of
Muslim Mindanao, he added.