Two slain in south Philippines

Two slain in south Philippines

SULTAN KUDARAT, Philippines (AFP): The Philippines government and Moslem guerrillas adjourned peace talks here yesterday, as another Moslem group raided a nearby village and killed two farmers, officials said.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the government agreed to resume preliminary talks in early April, said chief MILF negotiator Ghadzali Jaafar and Fortunato Abat, head of the Manila panel, in a joint statement.

The talks are aimed at bringing a political settlement to the last remaining major insurgency in the southern Philippines, home to a large Islamic minority. The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the biggest Moslem group, signed a peace treaty with Manila last year.

The talks, which resumed Tuesday, were marred by an attack by about 100 alleged members of the MNLF on a village near the southern town of Isulan on Wednesday which left two farmers dead as well as eight guerrillas and two farmers wounded, an army spokesman said.