COTABATO CITY -- Guns fell silent yesterday in two provinces in Mindanao where three days of fierce fighting between Muslim separatists and government troops left at least 23 guerrillas and two soldiers dead, the military said.
In Manila, President Estrada expressed hopes that a political settlement to end the insurgency could be worked out, but stressed the government would not yield to the guerrillas' demand for an independent Muslim state.
Capt. Joselito Aso, spokesman for the Army's 6th Infantry Division, said military operations in the provinces of Maguindanao and North Cotabato were temporarily halted against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is waging a 21-year separatist insurgency with Manila.
"The rebels did not move or launch any harassment and so we did not attack them today. If they will attack us, naturally there will be skirmishes, or if they attack civilian communities there will be offensives from the military," Aso said.
Fighting erupted Wednesday when some 3,000 soldiers launched an offensive on the MILF's Camp Omar in Maguindanao.
About a hundred MILF fighters dispatched to reinforce comrades inside the camp seized two villages on the border of Maguindanao and nearby North Cotabato the following day, trapping hundreds of villagers before fleeing on Friday.
Another group of rebels retreating from government attacks on Friday occupied Kauran village, taking seven hostages whom they later released unharmed.
The hostages said the rebels told them they were seized to force the troops from stopping its siege on Camp Omar, a strategic training camp overlooking several army posts.
Aso said the rebels that seized Kauran were back inside Camp Omar, where they have been silent since early yesterday.
Field commanders have not received any directives from the "military higher ups" to move forward and take the MILF camp, he said.
MILF spokesman Mohaqher Iqbal however warned the fighting could erupt any moment as he noted that the second round of formal peace negotiations scheduled on Monday will push through.
"This calm is an uneasy calm because there is no ceasefire yet and skirmishes could erupt any time," he said here. --