ZAMBOANGA CITY: Four civilians were wounded in a series of military bombardment in the southern Philippines, where troops are battling Moro rebels after the peace talks collapsed in August.
Another victim said he escaped from a military assault, but was wounded after he was shot by a soldier in Maguindanao, one of six provinces under the Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao.
Mindanao Tulong Bakwet, a Filipino relief organization, said four of those wounded were hit by shrapnel fired from artillery rounds being fired since Friday.
Fighting between troops and Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels the past months have displaced more than half a million people in the Muslim autonomous region and surrounding provinces in central Mindanao.
Fairuds Ebus, MTB executive director, said all the victims were Muslims.
Relief workers were also forced to stop their operations in Dapiawan village on Monday after rounds hit a water source just 20 meters from the refugee shelter.
The military denied all allegations of human rights violations and blamed leftist and militant organizations for what it called black propaganda.
“We need to verify all these accounts and other allegations of human rights violations, but as far as the military is concerned, the duty of the soldiers is to protect the lives and properties of civilians,” said said army spokesman Lt. Col. Julieto Ando.
Several Filipino human rights groups have blamed both the military and MILF rebels in the escalation of hostilities and the mounting crisis in Mindanao.
