Eight die as Filipino rebels strike again

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines: In a fresh outbreak of violence, rebels stormed a southern Philippine town Monday and seized several hostages while engaging troops in clashes that killed eight combatants, military officials said.
The fighting in the center of Mindanao island came as a standoff with another armed group elsewhere in Mindanao entered its third week.
It was not known if the two attacks were related but the leaders of the two groups have met at least once and both oppose the peace talks involving the 11,000-strong MILF.
Members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) attacked pro-government volunteers in the town of Midsayap before dawn but retreated when military reinforcements arrived, said regional army spokesman Col. Dickson Hermoso.
Four soldiers were killed while residents reported seeing four dead BIFF guerillas being carried away by their comrades, the colonel added.
The rebels then took 15 schoolteachers and farmers to use as human shields against pursuit although all of them were later freed, Hermoso said. Both Hermoso and BIFF spokesman Abu Misry Mama said the latest fighting was not related to the conflict with another band in Zamboanga City, 273 km from Midsayap.
“This has nothing to do with the Zamboanga incident. That is different. Our enemies are the military. We want them out,” Mama told radio station DXMS.
In Zamboanga City MG-520 attack helicopters were seen firing rockets and machineguns at the remaining members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) still hiding in the city.
Soldiers also raked the area with machinegun fire as smoke from burning houses obscured the MNLF positions.
About 200 MNLF members entered Zamboanga, a major trading center with one million residents, on Sept. 9 in the most serious armed challenge to the Philippine government in recent years.
Despite the deaths of 102 rebels and the capture or surrender of over a hundred others, almost 50 MNLF fighters still remain and are holding 20 hostages, said police regional spokesman Chief Inspector Ariel Huesca. Fifteen soldiers and police have been killed in the fighting, which has seen the rebels burn hundreds of houses.
“Troops are cautiously moving in because of rebel snipers,” said Huesca, adding he could not say when the crisis might end.
Both the MNLF faction of rebel chief Nur Misuari and the BIFF oppose ongoing government peace talks with the largest rebel group, the 12,000-strong MILF.
Misuari fears his MNLF would be sidelined by an impending autonomy deal with the MILF, while the BIFF broke away from the MILF and continues to demand independence for the region. In the latest attack, an undetermined number of fighters of the BIFF assaulted an outpost of unarmed government militiamen in a town in North Cotabato province, then took 15 villagers hostage, regional military spokesmen Col. Dickson Hermoso said.
Army troops later caught up with the rebels, who engaged the soldiers in sporadic firefights while using their captives as human shields. Four soldiers and four rebels were killed, he said.
All 15 hostages later escaped or were freed by the troops, he said, but added a group of about 10 teachers are missing, either trapped in a school by gunfire between the troops and rebels, or taken hostage by the rebels.
“The rebels suddenly arrived there. Some were not even wearing their uniforms and just changed into their uniforms there,” Loreto Cabaya, a member of the North Cotabato provincial board, said. GMA News TV network.