Members of the breakaway Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF). AFP FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Fresh clashes broke out Tuesday in Maguindanao between government troops and hardline Moro rebels opposed to peace deal following intermittent clashes the previous day, the military said.
The firefight started in the villages of Ganta and Batak in Shariff Saydona at 5a.m., Colonel Dickson Hermoso, spokesman of the Philippine Army’s 6th Infantry Division, told INQUIRER.net.
On Monday, clashes between the government forces and the breakaway Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) left 17 rebels killed in parts of Maguindanao.
The renewed firefight came two days after the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MNLF) signed successfully ended negotiations to end a decades-long insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of people. The BIFF is the breakaway group of the 11,000-strong MILF.
Hermoso said Tuesday’s encounter was the continuation of Monday’s clashes that ended in the afternoon. The rebels reportedly split into smaller groups.
On Monday, police backed by troops were on the way to arrest rebel commanders when the clash erupted in a vast marshland of southern Maguindanao province.
Police also came under fire Sunday when they attempted to arrest the rebel group’s commanders in another Maguindanao area.
Army troops launched artillery strikes and deployed two helicopter gunships after dozens of rebels were seen massing near two communities, prompting many villagers to flee to safety. The sporadic clashes eased later Monday and troops were continuing to hunt down the rebels, Hermoso said.
As of posting time, the firefight was ongoing and Hermoso estimated the number of BIFF rebels at 30.
“Let’s not connect it with the peace agreement,” Hermoso said of the series of clashes, saying that the police and military were on law enforcement operations.
The Philippine government and the MILF signed Saturday the last of four annexes to the Bangsamoro framework agreement that would pave the way for a comprehensive peace deal.
It was the most significant progress made over 13 years of negotiations to tame a tenacious insurgency that has left more than 120,000 people dead and crippled development in Muslim-populated southern regions that are among the poorest in the country.
The pact calls for the Moro insurgents to end violence in exchange for broader autonomy. An existing five-province Muslim autonomous region is to be replaced by a more powerful, better-funded and potentially larger region to be called Bangsamoro, which would be secured by a force composed of former guerrillas.
Political analyst Julkipli Wadi, who has studied the Muslim unrest, said the government should have taken steps to include other armed groups in the peace process. He expressed fear that the Moro rebels could end up fighting rival groups. With Associated Press
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