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Philippine military suffers casualties in fight against Muslim rebels |
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May 18, 2000
MANILA, MAY 17 (AP) - At least 113 government soldiers have been killed and more than 470 others wounded during a five-month offensive against Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines, the most since the height of the insurgency about 25 years ago, an official said Wednesday.
Many of the soldiers were killed in more than two weeks of fighting to dislodge about 700 Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas from a section of a highway in Matanog, Maguindanao province, near the rebels' headquarters, Camp Abubakar.
At least 21 soldiers were killed in one skirmish in Matanog and the bodies of some of those troops were recovered only on Tuesday, a day after the military regained control of the highway.
In Basilan province, 14 soldiers were killed in an ambush last week by guerrillas belonging to the extremist Abu Sayyaf Muslim rebel group who were fleeing with about eight hostages, mostly school children from an original group of about 50 people they seized in March.
The Abu Sayyaf are also holding another set of 21 hostages, mostly foreigners, who were seized from a Malaysian resort on April 23 and brought to Jolo island in the Philippines, about an houraway. The Philippine government is negotiating with the rebels for the release of those hostages.
"The last time (there were this many casualties) was in the early 70s," said armed forces spokesman Col. Rafael Romero. "It's costly."
There have been no independent reports of rebel casualties. The military said in early April that more than 300 MILF guerrillas had been killed so far this year, but that figure is not considered reliable.
President Joseph Estrada has called for an "all-out war" against rebels if they fail to reach a peace agreement by June, saying he was sworn to defend Philippine territory, punish those who violate the law and crush terrorists.
The MILF withdrew from peace talks last month because of the military offensive, which they said threatened their main camp, but offered Monday to restart negotiations.
The fighting in Maguindanao originated with sporadic clashes between the MILF and the military in January and intensified after the rebels occupied the town of Kauswagan in Lanao del Norte province in mid-March.
Asked to comment on the campaign's cost to the military, Romero replied: "What if we did not do it now? What would happen if we had done it in the future? Do you think the picture will be better?"
He said former administrations allowed the rebels to gain ground by not moving decisively against MILF expansion.
"We have degraded their military capability to a certain degree and we will continue to see to it that this will not happen again," Romero said.
Romero said more troops will be deployed to the southern Mindanao region to prevent the rebels from regaining lost ground.
The MILF broke away from the main rebel group, the Moro National Liberation Front, which accepted autonomy instead of independence under a 1996 peace agreement.
The MILF rejected the accord and continued to fight for an independent Islamic state. It agreed to hold peace talks and signed a shaky cease-fire with the government in 1997.
The military regards the Abu Sayyaf as a bandit gang, and has blamed it for numerous attacks against Christians, including the abduction of foreign missionaries.
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