MANILA, 2 October — At least 44 people have been killed in pitched battles between government troops and Moro separatists in the southern province of Maguindanao over the weekend, the military said yesterday.
Eight of those who died were army soldiers and up to 36 were members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Army spokesman Lt. Col. Jose Mabanta told reporters.
Mabanta said the clash took place late last week in Buldon town, 960 kilometers south of Manila.
The government and the MILF, which is fighting for an autonomous Muslim state in the country’s south, have been preparing for peace talks for several months.
Government officials have said the talks could take place as early as next week.
Mabanta said 100 MILF fighters stormed a disused military outpost on Thursday, in violation of an agreement under the terms of a cease-fire signed by both sides last August in Kuala Lumpur.
When a subsequent exchange of fire failed to turn back the rebels, the army returned with helicopters and planes, Mabanta said.
He said soldiers found the bodies of four MILF gunmen after two days of fighting but that local Muslim leaders had said 32 more rebels had been killed.
“We want this settled immediately because we are concerned. We want the peace process to succeed,” Mabanta told reporters.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said more than 15 soldiers were killed in the two-day firefight, which he said was started by a military attack. He did not mention of any MILF casualty.
Kabalu warned that more hostilities may break out and spill over to neighboring areas if the military continues to attack MILF positions.
He said “another showdown” looked imminent in nearby Lanao del Norte province as he claimed that the Philippine Army’s 401st Brigade continued massing its troops in the towns of Pantao Ragat, Matenggaw and Bacolod.
“Obviously, the troops building up is being made in preparation to an impending assault against MILF forces in the area…” he said.
“What is going on right now is the same pattern employed by the military when the same 401st Brigade launched an attack our forces at Kauswagan and Munai in Camp Bilal on September 6-11,” he said.
As a result, the MILF’s 303rd Brigade has beefed up its own defenses, he said, quoting the commander of the Front’s 3rd Field Division, Aleem Sulaiman.
The MILF accused army soldiers of mauling three civilians and taking six others “hostage” in Salipada K. Pendatun town of Maguindanao.
Kabalu said elements of the army’s 47th IB confronted the residents and asked the whereabouts of certain Sampolna, whom they suspected to have been in cahoots with the group of kidnappers.
When the civilians failed to say where Sampolna was, they were beaten up.
