Military kills at least 35 rebels, captures Muslim rebel camps in southern Philippines

Philippines, Jun 08, 2009

The Philippine military said Monday (June 8) that dozens of insurgents were killed and two Muslim rebel camps in the south have been overrun by troops, after soldiers captured another camp in the area. According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), air attacks backed by artillery fire on the ground led to the capture of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) camps near Guindulungan town on the southern island of Mindanao on Sunday (June 7), regional army spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Ponce said. Ponce said that the number of rebel casualties "has risen to 35 and 28 wounded while government forces suffered five wounded in action," AFP quoted him as saying. On Saturday (June 6) a rebel training camp also near the town was seized by soldiers after several days of fighting.  Troops say they found large caches of weapons and ammunition at the base, the BBC reported. MILF rebels are reportedly denying the military's claims, according to the BBC.  MILF spokesperson Eid Kabalu said that only nine fighters were wounded in the battle.  According to the Manila Times and AFP, the Guindulungan bases were believed to be the strongholds of MILF commander Ustadz Ameril Umbra Kato, one of two rogue senior rebel commanders who broke a ceasefire in August and attacked Christian areas. According to the BBC, the recent fighting has intensified over the last six weeks and has displaced 50,000 people. According to the Manila Times, Ponce made it clear that the army was only targeting the rogue commanders and forces that attacked civilian communities in Cotabato last year.  "Our target is only the lawless base command of the MILF like this 105th Base Command and not the other base commands of the MILF because we are adhering to the peace process," the Times quoted Ponce as saying. The MILF has been vying for an autonomous Muslim homeland in the southern Philippines for decades but agreed to a ceasefire in 2003 to facilitate talks with the government. After years of little progress, the two sides appeared to be on the verge of creating the homeland in August of last year when the Supreme Court ruled the move unconstitutional. Rogue factions of the MILF operating independently of the group's senior leadership began occupying southern villages and the military moved in to push them out. After a month of intense fighting that displaced more than 600,000 people at its peak, peace returned to most parts of western Mindanao. Sporadic clashes have continued, however, and around 600 people - many of them civilians caught in the fighting - have been killed since August.