Soldier killed, 3 hurt in rebel raids–Army
President Quirino town in Sultan Kudarat.
MANILA, Philippines — A soldier was killed and three others wounded when Muslim rebels simultaneously attacked military detachments in two southern provinces on Saturday, a military spokeswoman said.
An hour-long gun battle broke out when separatist rebel group Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) raided a camp in President Quirino town in Sultan Kudarat province shortly after midnight, Captain Jo-ann Petinglay said in a statement.
The BIFF, which opposes current peace talks between the country’s main Muslim rebel group and the government, also launched an attack on a camp in General Salipada K. Pendatun town in Maguindanao province, she said.
The raids were meant to sabotage the negotiations, Petinglay said, adding that the separatists “will continually be a potent spoiler to peace.”
The BIFF split from the country’s main Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), in 2008 to fight for a separate Islamic state in the mainly Catholic Philippines.
Article continues after this advertisementIt made no comment about Saturday’s attacks.
Article continues after this advertisementThe military had also blamed the BIFF for a bus bombing in the south in December that claimed 10 lives, and an ambush in November that killed an army major and two of his men.
The MILF signed a peace deal with President Benigno Aquino III’s government in March last year, paving the way for an expansion of the current autonomous Muslim region.
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