MANILA, Philippines—A Muslim rebel commander behind deadly raids in Mindanao declared on Wednesday an "all-out war" against the government, saying his fighters were willing to die in battle.
Abdurahman Macapaar of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), also known as Commander Bravo, taunted the military and said his mujahedeen, or holy warriors, were willing to engage them in firefights anytime.
"We are prepared to trade fire with them until we are decimated. If they cannot finish us, we will finish them," Bravo said over the Radio Mindanao Network. "We are prepared to kill, we are prepared to be killed."
He said attacks on several Christian towns in the provinces of Lanao del Norte and Sarangani on Monday that left 38 dead were led by "mujahedeen" angered by an aborted land deal with the government.
"What the Muslims want is Islamic justice in Mindanao," Bravo said, referring to the country's main southern island where the MILF has been waging a separatist rebellion since 1978.
"In the eyes of Allah we are not terrorists," he said, reacting to accusations by some government officials that he and his rebel unit no longer follow the MILF chain of command.
Bravo is a senior MILF leader who controls large rebel areas in the mountains of Lanao in Mindanao.
Short and of medium build, Bravo along with another MILF commander, Umbra Kato, is a separatist hardliner who has repeatedly staged attacks despite ongoing peace talks.
Kato's men last week illegally occupied more than 20 villages in another Mindanao province, triggering intense gunbattles.
Military officials said they were trying to verify field reports that Kato may have been wounded in a firefight late Tuesday.
Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno late Tuesday offered P10 million ($222,000) for any information leading to the capture of the two.
The recent flare-up of violence came after the Supreme Court on August 4 stopped the government from signing an agreement expanding a Muslim autonomous area to be controlled by the MILF.
The proposed agreement triggered massive street protests from Christian provinces and towns in Mindanao.
The high court has yet to issue a final ruling on the deal, but two members of the bench have already publicly expressed views against it.
Presidential spokesman Jesus Dureza said Wednesday there may be a need to review the proposed deal and warned that the government may no longer sign.
"There is no point in signing an agreement at this point in time," Dureza said, adding that even if the accord was signed, the two rebel MILF commanders could ignore it to launch their own attacks.
"We will review the agreement in light of the comments given by the Supreme Court (justices) and in the light of what is happening in Mindanao," he said.
The MILF overall chief Murad Ibrahim meanwhile warned that "watering down the agreement will (mean) going back to zero."
Murad also ordered both commanders to stand down, but said he could not blame MILF commanders if they felt betrayed by the government.
"This could be a beginning of war if not properly handled," Murad warned but said there was still a chance of resuming peace talks if the deal was signed.
Hostilities meanwhile spread to other provinces Wednesday, with the army reporting it was engaged in gunbattles with MILF rebels in the town of Shariff Aguak that had left one soldier wounded so far.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has condemned the "sneaky and treacherous" attacks and ordered government forces to crush the MILF units of Kato and Bravo.
The UN's World Food Program on Wednesday said it would dispatch an additional 250 metric tons of rice to Mindanao, on top of the 400 metric tons it delivered last week.
