About 10,000 people have fled their homes amid fighting between Muslim rebels and government forces in the southern Philippines, a civil defense official said yesterday.
The displaced accounts for about one in seven residents of the towns of Payao, Alicia and Talusan on Mindanao island, home of a decades-old Muslim insurgency, provincial disaster monitoring chief Adriano Fuego said.
The government said the fighting and the evacuations were an offshoot of a military operation against “lawless elements” engaged in kidnappings, but Muslim rebels have alleged their forces have been attacked as well.
‘ADVANCE NEWS’
“There was advance news, like text messages on the cellphones they [rebels] would attack the municipalities. There were text messages going around saying other municipalities would be attacked,” Fuego said.
Residents took refuge with their relatives shortly before Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) forces occupied several schools in these areas, he said, adding their flight had prevented potential civilian casualties.
AIR STRIKES
The MILF attacks triggered military air strikes and a ground assault on Monday that the government said left two soldiers and six gunmen dead.
The same group of rebels targeted by the air strikes was blamed for ambushes that killed four soldiers and four policemen in the same general area on Thursday.
The fighting came just two days after 19 special forces commandos were gunned down by MILF fighters after they strayed into rebel territory on the adjacent island of Basilan.
At least 35 people have been killed in Mindanao and Basilan in a week of fighting.
The violence has cast a shadow over the government’s extended peace negotiations with the MILF, which began in 2003 and includes a ceasefire.
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