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Manila Breaks Truce with MILF Separatists Over Abu Sayyaf
ZAMBOANGA,
July 1 (News Agencies) - Government troops yesterday broke a ceasefire and shelled strongholds of the country's main Muslim separatist group it had accused of sheltering Abu Sayyaf kidnappers, separatist sources said.
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) regional leader Shariff Julabbi said separatist positions near Tuburan town in southern Basilan island were attacked early Sunday by soldiers without provocation, triggering a firefight.
"The military assaulted our position. Soldiers shelled our area with 105 mm howitzer cannons," Julabbi said. "Our forces retaliated with anti-tank rockets ... to defend the MILF area."
There were no immediate reports of casualties on either side.
The MILF is the country's main Muslim separatist group waging a 23year rebellion for an independent Islamic state in the south. The government and the MILF two weeks ago signed a landmark truce in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, and peace talks have continued to reach a political settlement to end the rebellion.
The military has accused MILF members on Basilan of helping Abu Sayyaf separatists holding 23 American and Filipino captives to escape from a massive military manhunt, a claim denied by the MILF.
"What we know is that there have been ongoing operations against the Abu Sayyaf, but the MILF is not the Abu Sayyaf," Julabbi said.
Military officials have asked MILF separatists in Basilan to keep out of the way as 5,000 soldiers scour the island's rugged jungle terrain to search for the hostages.
Southern Sommand spokesman Lt. Col. Danilo Servando said troops were under instructions to engage any suspicious groups bearing firearms, including the MILF.
It was not immediately clear how this would affect the peace talks.
The MILF has said it does not share ideological links with the Abu Sayyaf, a smaller group of a few hundred self-styled Islamic freedom fighters, described by Manila as plain bandits and terrorists.
The Abu Sayyaf snatched 17 Filipino and three American hostages from a resort in the western Philippines on May 27. Eleven of them have been freed or rescued, while the separatists have beheaded two and claimed to have also executed American Guillermo Sobero.
They also snatched in two Basilan raids four hospital staff and 15 plantation workers, two of whom were found beheaded last week.
Abu Sayyaf spokesmen have reportedly asked for a $1 million each for Christian missonary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham, from Kansas.
Military civilian informants reported Sunday having sighted the gunmen and some of the captives, including the Americans, on a moutain area called Sampinit complex in central Basilan.
Military spokesman Servando said the military was not yet open to a proposal by local officials and mediators to open a "humanitarian corridor" to allow doctors and relief workers to the separatist site.
One of the hostages freed earlier has said that the health of many of the remaining captives was deteriorating in the harsh conditions of Basilan's hinterlands, where malaria is endemic.
Armed forces chief Gen. Dionedio Villanueva on Sunday visited ground commanders in Basilan to try to speed up the rescue amid criticisms the Abu Sayyaf were running circles around government security forces.
Meanwhile, soldiers on nearby Jolo island killed an Abu Sayyaf commander after a raid on a separatist lair outside its capital town.
On Saturday, three separatists were wounded and others believed killed in four hours of clashes with soldiers in Jolo's Talipao town.
Officials said the offensive in Jolo would continue to prevent separatists from reinforcing their comrades under siege in Basilan.
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