RP troops seize Moro camps

RP troops seize Moro camps

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AFP): Government troops seized three Moro guerrilla camps after three days of heavy fighting which claimed at least 45 lives in the southern region of Mindanao, the military said yesterday.

The clashes with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) faction exposed the fragile nature of the peace which President Fidel Ramos won last month in a peace treaty with the region's main security threat, the separatist Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

The Army announced the capture of the MILF camps on the island of Basilan only days after Manila said it would begin cease-fire talks with the MILF next week.

The battle around the town of Tipo-Tipo left at least 40 MILF members and five soldiers dead, and eight other government troops wounded, southern military command spokesman Maj. Fredesvindo Covarrubias said.