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MIDSAYAP: Three soldiers were killed in the southern Philippines on Sunday as fighting resumed despite a commitment by Muslim guerrillas to withdraw from occupied areas, eyewitnesses said.
Frightened residents in Midsayap town on Mindanao island said the three soldiers were slain by sniper fire from rebels of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) as scores of villagers fled their homes in terror.
Local officials said up to six soldiers had also been wounded as the military exchanged heavy machinegun and mortar fire with MILF forces in Midsayap and nearby towns and villages.
The military was forced to move against the rebels after 400 guerrillas ignored orders from their superiors to pull out of the area, regional army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Julieto Ando said.
Acting military command centre chief Brigadier General Jorge Segovia said that the MILF band "has degenerated into a plain bandit group," and that the military no longer considered them protected under a ceasefire signed in 2003.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said on local radio that the Muslim rebels had been trying to pull out but pro-government militiamen had threatened them, forcing MILF forces to fight back.
"Right now, the (joint) ceasefire committee is thrashing things out... so the arrangement can push through but until that is thrashed out... there will be tensions because the military is continuing to open fire," Kabalu said.
Armoured vehicles backed up military trucks as they unloaded troops and supplies in the outskirts of Midsayap. The artillery fired at MILF positions and the rebels returned fire with heavy machineguns.
Military attack planes could be seen flying overhead, occasionally swooping down to drop small bombs while the MILF fired upwards, trying to bring them down.
"There is no halt in the shooting. Every hour, there is continued fire of automatic rifles and something even more powerful, probably a cannon," said villager Severina Dumag, 39, who fled her home.
Armed MILF fighters had occupied areas around this majority Christian town last week even as a draft peace accord between the government and the MILF was struck down by a Supreme Court order on Monday.
MILF leadership earlier agreed to pull out but many MILF guerrillas have refused to withdraw and have even hoisted their flags over the areas, local officials said.
The 12,000-strong MILF has been waging a 30-year guerrilla campaign for a separate Islamic state in the south of the largely-Christian Philippines.
In 2003, the rebels signed a ceasefire with the government to open the way for peace talks, and in July both sides said they had completed a draft agreement for recognition of the MILF's "ancestral domain" in the south.
However, local officials in Mindanao opposed the agreement and filed a suit with the Supreme Court, resulting in a suspension of the draft accord, raising new tensions with the MILF.
- AFP/yb
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