Philippines: Seven Killed In Fights Between Army And Moro Rebels

Three soldiers and at least four rebels have been killed in fierce clashes between the Philippine Army and members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Basilan.

At least 13 soldiers and an unknown number of rebels were also wounded in the fight which could threaten the 2014 peace agreement that had brought a degree of calm to the restive southern Philippines region.

Brigadier-General Domingo Gobway, Commander of the Philippine Army’s Joint Task Force Basilan, said gun battles broke out on Tuesday, Wednesday and again on Thursday morning around Basilan’s Ungkaya Pukan town.

The shooting had died down on Wednesday but re-erupted on Thursday morning when the front’s fighters – the largest rebel group in the south of the largely Roman Catholic Philippines – attacked government soldiers.

Gobway said; “We thought that it was already over but the MILF provoked our troops, they opened fire, an estimated 100 fighters, including “lawless elements” were involved in the battles.”

The confrontations erupted as soldiers were engaged in continuing military operations to hunt down armed criminal elements responsible for recent bomb attacks.