Rebel death toll in Sultan Kudarat clashes now 28

ZAMBOANGA CITY — At least 28 Moro rebels have been killed in week-long clashes with government troops in Sultan Kudarat, military officials said yesterday.

"Troops are still clearing the area where the fighting erupted," said Capt. Onting Alon, deputy spokesman for the Army’s 6th Infantry Division in Central Mindanao, a known stronghold of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Officials have linked the MILF to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist network and to the Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian-based Islamic group that is suspected in devastating bomb attacks in Bali, Indonesia last October.

At least 17 rebels and their allies from the Pentagon kidnapping gang were wounded in the fighting, the military said.

Clashes broke out in the mountain town of Columbio in Sultan Kudarat after hundreds of guerrillas occupied two villages and torched houses, driving out hundreds of civilians.

The military said the government side suffered no casualties.

"At least 28 rebels were killed and we captured one rebel in five encounters in Sultan Kudarat since Jan. 8," Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes said.

Reyes traveled to Sultan Kudarat yesterday to inspect troops and visit refugees.

But MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu denied MILF and Pentagon members have joined forces. He also belied the military’s casualty count, saying only two MILF guerrillas have been killed and four were wounded.

Kabalu also accused the military of violating a ceasefire agreement with the MILF.

It is still unclear if the renewed fighting will affect peace negotiations with the MILF. Both the military and the MILF said they would file a complaint with the joint ceasefire monitoring committee.

The military blames the Pentagon, composed mostly of renegade MILF rebels, for a string of kidnappings of foreigners and missionaries. — John Unson