Philippines troops, rebels forge truce after fighting kills 10
The Hindu
The clashes left three soldiers dead and 15 others wounded, regional military spokesman Lt. Col. Abdurasad Sirajan said.
Philippine troops forged a ceasefire with Muslim guerrillas after 10 combatants were killed in clashes in a southern village and frantic efforts were made to prevent an escalation that could threaten a major peace accord, military commanders and the rebels said on November 11.
The sporadic clashes erupted November 8 and 9 in Ulitan village on the island province of Basilan, where emergency talks arranged by government and rebel mediators led to an indefinite ceasefire agreement on November 10 between army forces and Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebel commanders.
The clashes left three soldiers dead and 15 others wounded, regional military spokesman Lt. Col. Abdurasad Sirajan said. A former rebel commander, Dan Asnawi, told The Associated Press at least seven insurgents were killed and six others were wounded.
Government and rebel mediators were “able to stop the fighting with a dialogue between both sides,” regional military commander Brig. Gen. Arturo Rojas said. “It was an unfortunate event since both sides incurred casualties.”
Military and rebel commanders at the scene of the fighting accused each other of violating the 2014 peace agreement, which eased years of bloody and extensive fighting between government forces and the Muslim rebel front, the largest separatist insurgent group in the south of the largely Roman Catholic nation.
Under the ceasefire pact, the Muslim rebels and their families would be allowed to return to Ulitan village but should restrict their firearms in their homes as they await “decommissioning” — a subtle term for the surrender of their firearms in exchange for livelihood packages — under the peace accord.
A security detachment to be manned by the military, police and the rebels would be established in Ulitan village to keep “lawless elements” out, Mr. Rojas said in a statement.