Soldier, Muslim rebel killed in southern Philippine clash

Nov 2, 2009, 1:34 GMT

   Zamboanga City, Philippines - A Marine soldier and a Muslim rebel were killed a firefight on the weekend in the southern Philippines, a military spokesman said Monday.

   Four Marines were also injured in the clash in Panamao town on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila, said Major David Hontiveros, a regional military spokesman.

   Hontiveros said the fighting erupted Saturday when Muslim rebels opened fire at the troops who were dispatched to verify reports of armed men in the village of Patibulan.

   He said the rebels were members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), which signed a peace agreement with the Philippine government in 1996.

   The MNLF used to be the largest Muslim rebel group fighting for an independent Islamic state in the southern region of Mindanao until it signed the peace pact.

   Under the agreement, the MNLF's fighters laid down their arms and its leaders headed an autonomous Muslim region in Mindanao.

   However, many MNLF members have complained about the government's alleged failure to keep its commitments under the peace agreement and have again taken up arms.

   In 2001, MNLF leader Nur Misuari led a failed uprising against the government to protest the slow implementation of the peace agreement, leaving more than 100 people dead.

   Misuari, former governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, was captured in Malaysia and subsequently extradited to the Philippines, where he is now on trial on rebellion charges.