Muslim rebels attacked several southern coastal townships in the Philippines today, killing a local official and burning houses in a sharp escalation of fighting amid uncertainty over a fragile peace process.
Regional military spokesman Major Armand Rico said the towns of Kulambugan and Kauswagan in Lanao del Norte province came under attack early today from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
He said the rebels executed the leader of Libertad village in Kauswagan town. Government troops in armored vehicles fought the rebels in efforts to push them back into the hinterland, where they maintain camps. Local officials ordered the evacuation of residents from nearby communities to avoid casualties.
Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu confirmed the attack, but said it was carried out by a renegade commander, Abdullah Macapaar and without the knowledge of the group's leadership.
Major Rico said there were reports that the attackers took a number of civilians hostage.
Retired General Rodolfo Garcia, head of the government's negotiating team with the rebels, called the attack on the towns a violation of a 2003 cease-fire. He said government officials were trying to get through to the rebels to get them to control their fighters. "This is an act that must not be tolerated," he said.
Officials in the predominantly Christian cities in the southern Philippines - the traditional homeland of minority Muslims - have strongly opposed a preliminary accord forged between the government and the rebels in a bid to end the decades-old insurgency for Muslim self-rule in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation.
The agreement, which was supposed to be signed this month but was blocked by the Supreme Court, calls for the expansion of an existing Muslim autonomous region to include more than 700 new villages, subject to the approval of residents in a plebiscite.
AP