Philippine troops attacked Muslim guerrillas yesterday, setting off fierce exchanges of machine gun and artillery fire in a southern province after hundreds of rebels defied an ultimatum to withdraw from Christian farms, officials said.
At least six army soldiers were wounded in clashes with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas in the farming villages in Aleosan and Pikit, two of four rural townships of North Cotabato Province where fighting erupted, said Army Colonel Diosdado Carreon of the 40th Infantry Battalion.
The government had given about 800 Muslim guerrillas until 10am on Friday to vacate several villages they had occupied in violation of a 2003 ceasefire. Officials accused them of burning houses, destroying farms, stealing cattle and driving tens of thousands of people from their homes.
After discussions between MILF and Philippine officials on Saturday, the rebels were ordered by its leaders to pull back from the occupied villages, but later complained that their withdrawal was hampered by government troops and armed villagers in areas where they were to pass. Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu said that some pro-military militias have sporadically fired at them.
Brigadier General Jorge Segovia, in a statement issued by the military yesterday, said rebels in the villages “degenerated into a plain bandit group and [are] considered as lost command.”
“All peaceful avenues have been exhausted to resolve the conflict,” Segovia said. “We are now compelled to resort to the application of proportionate and justifiable force so that peace and order may be restored in North Cotabato.”
Segovia stressed that government assaults were not directed against the whole of the MILF, which has a truce with government troops.
Carreon said army troops and police moved toward some of the rebel-occupied villages yesterday but came under fire, prompting them to retaliate. The rebels have reneged on a promise to vacate the villages to allow hundreds of displaced residents to return to their homes, he said.
A DZBB journalist reported fierce artillery exchanges in Baliki in Midsayap, one of five North Cotabato farming townships where Philippine security officials said the rebels occupied a number of predominantly Christian villages. Several residents fled to safety by foot and vehicles, the journalist reported from the scene as gunshots and explosions rang in the background.
The fresh conflict came at a crucial point in peace negotiations between the government and the MILF rebels, who have been waging a bloody decades-long insurgency for self-rule in the southern Philippines.
The two sides had reached an agreement covering the territory of a future Muslim homeland but the signing of the accord was stopped last week by the Supreme Court, acting on a petition filed by Christian politicians in North Cotabato.
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