Philippine military sends more troops to southern island

Aug 11, 2007, 6:55 GMT

Zamboanga City, Philippines - Additional troops were dispatched Saturday to a southern Philippine island where fierce fighting between government soldiers and Muslim rebels has left more than 50 people dead, the military said.

Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Torres said the first batch of about 1,000 troops arrived on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila, on Saturday to hunt down guerrillas involved in the fighting that killed 25 soldiers.

A civilian and 31 fighters from the Abu Sayyaf rebel group and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), which signed a peace agreement with the government in 1996, were also killed in the fighting on Thursday.

'We are continuing with our operations to be able to cordon off and finally destroy the Abu Sayyaf,' Torres said.

There are currently four army battalions and four marine battalions on Jolo island, a stronghold of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf.

The hostilities erupted when Abu Sayyaf rebels and MNLF fighters ambushed a group of soldiers on their way to the public market on the border of Indanan and Maimbung towns on Thursday, triggering all-day clashes.

More than 4,300 people have been forced to flee their homes in the affected towns due to the violence, according to Bai Racma Imam, an official with the local social welfare department.

Armed forces chief of staff General Hermogenes Esperon was scheduled to visit Jolo on Sunday to review the military's offensive against the Abu Sayyaf.

'I am very sad about the high casualties, but I'm not disheartened,' he said. 'I'm proud of our soldiers because they are on the offensive despite the hardships.'

Since Friday, no clashes have been reported between the military and the guerrillas.

The MNLF has already asked the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), which brokered the 1996 peace agreement with the government, to intervene to avoid an escalation of the hostilities.

While the MNLF signed a peace pact with the government, thousands of its members continue to carry weapons and hold camps in the southern region of Mindanao.

Some disgruntled members and officials have also expressed dissatisfaction over the government's failure to implement some key provisions of the 10-year-old peace accord, especially those aimed at developing Muslim areas in Mindanao.

A tripartite meeting among representatives of the OIC, which brokered the peace pact; the Philippine government; and the MNLF to assess the implementation of the agreement has been postponed several times.

The Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for some of the worst terrorist attacks in the Philippines. It is believed to be working with two top militants with the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah regional terrorist group who are hiding in Mindanao.