Fighting between AFP, MILF flares as Ramadan ends

Nov	23
2008

Fighting between AFP, MILF flares as Ramadan ends

Agence France-Presse | 10/01/2008 3:45 PM

Printer-friendly version | Send to friend

DATU SAUDI AMPATUAN - Fighting between Philippine troops and Muslim separatists flared up on Wednesday as the Islamic holy month of Ramadan came to an end, officials said.

"The frequency of armed incidents between government troops and the lawless groups are increasing," with the rebels launching more attacks, said military spokesman LT. Col. Colonel Ernesto Torres.

He said that with the end of Ramadan, the military was also ending its restraint in using artillery and air strikes against guerrillas of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the southern Philippines.

"We will revert back to the rules of engagement that we had before Ramadan," Torres said.

In the town of Datu Saudi Ampatuan in Maguindanao province on Wednesday, a group of journalists investigating a burning house came under fire from MILF gunmen.

The journalists fled unharmed but their vehicle was later discovered to have been hit by a bullet through one of its tires.

Government troops in the area then returned fired at the rebels with rifles and mortars, the journalists said.

In the town of Midsayap, a military patrol clashed with about 30 MILF fighters in an eight minute gunbattle. The soldiers suffered no casualties but found three rifles left behind by the rebels, possibly indicating they suffered casualties, Torres said.

The military says its operations are against two MILF leaders, Umbra Kato and Abdurahman Macapaar, who are accused of leading deadly raids against mostly Christian towns on Mindanao island in early August that left dozens dead and displaced half a million people.

The government has been holding peace talks with the 12,000-member MILF but the violence flared anew after the Supreme Court on August 4 struck down a draft agreement which would have given the MILF control of large swathes of land in the Mindanao region.

About five percent of Filipinos are Muslim, making them the largest minority in the mainly Roman Catholic nation, which has been battling separatists in the Mindanao region for most of the past four decades.

as of 10/01/2008 3:45 PM