MILF Protests New Attack By Troops In South RP

Government troops guard Wednesday 22 Nov 2006 downtown Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front on Wednesday also protested an attack by soldiers on rebel forces in Maguindanao's Shariff Aguak town. (Mindanao Examiner)

COTABATO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 22 Nov) – The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) accused government soldiers of attacking rebel forces in the southern Philippines.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said troops fired at rebels in the village of Kuloy in Shariff Aguak town in Maguindanao province and sparking a brief gun battle on Monday.

“Philippine government soldiers attacked rebel forces and triggered a brief exchange of gun fires. Luckily, no one was killed on the MILF side."

"We still don’t know if there were military casualties. The military attack is a violation of the cease-fire agreement,” he told the Mindanao Examiner.

Kabalu said soldiers from the Army’s 64th Infantry Battalion were responsible for the attack. He said the MILF protested the attack and that the Malaysian-led international cease-fire observers are investigating the incident.

Military commanders in the area did not give any statement and ignored phone calls from reporters.Sporadic fighting between soldiers and rebels had been reported in the past with both sides accusing each other of violating the truce.

President Gloria Arroyo opened peace talks in 2001 with the MILF, the country's largest separatist rebel group fighting for an independent Muslim state in the southern region, in an effort to put an end to more than three decades of fighting in Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)