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ILIGAN, Philippines : Muslim separatist rebels left a trail of bloodied corpses and burning homes after a series of pre-dawn attacks Monday on towns in the southern Philippines.
AFP reporters saw nine lying bloodied by a roadside in one village as black smoke billowed from houses burning in the background.
Five other civilians were killed in another village by the marauding Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas, fleeing residents said.
In near simultaneous assaults, hundreds of MILF rebels raided the towns of Kauswagan, Maigo and Kolambugan in Lanao del Norte province and Maasim in the province of Sarangani, officials said.
More than 200 guerrillas fought intense gun battles with troops and police in the centre of the mainly Christian town of Kolambugan, said mayor Beltran Lumaque.
"They have taken over the business centre, the rural banks, pawnshops," he told a Manila radio station, saying houses were on fire and many residents had fled heavy fighting in the town centre.
"We need reinforcements," he urged, as the shooting continued.
Provincial spokesman Lyndon Calica said MILF rebels had overrun and torched a police outpost and burned combat vehicles, and also taken an unknown number of civilian hostages.
"Kolambugan is practically under the control of the MILF," Calica said.
Another rebel unit struck the town of Maasim, leaving two civilians dead as they ransacked a pawnshop and looted a drug store for medicines.
Military spokesman Major Randolph Cabangbang said the guerrillas killed two people and also shot a power transmission facility, causing a blackout.
The attacks were a "virtual declaration of war" by the MILF, said military chier General Alexander Yano in Manila.
"The AFP (armed forces) shall not allow this to go on," Yano told a press conference.
"We are taking military action to stop these atrocities perpetrated by the MILF."
He said the developments were a "clear manifestation of the insincerity to the peace process of a significant portion of the MILF," and vowing to restore law and order as quickly as possible.
The latest attacks came a day after MILF rebels ambushed a military convoy, killing four soldiers and three pro-government militiamen.
Eight soldiers and three other militiamen were wounded in the attack.
The 12,000-strong MILF has been fighting for an Islamic state in the south of the predominantly Christian Philippines since 1978.
It signed a ceasefire agreement with Manila in 2003 which paved the way for peace talks, but two weeks ago the Supreme Court halted a deal that would have given the rebels control over vast areas in the south.
Shortly after, the rebels attacked government positions and took over more than 20 villages in another southern province.
Although they were eventually pushed back, the retreating rebels looted and burned many houses.
- AFP /ls
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