13 Filipino soldiers face raps for civilian deaths

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine army says an officer and 12 other soldiers have been restricted to camp and will face court-martial after they engaged in a clash with outlaws in the south that killed a woman and her two children.

Regional military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Lyndon Paniza says an army investigation showed the soldiers did not follow combat rules in an October 18 firefight that led to the crossfire deaths of the three civilians inside a hut in rural Kimlawis village in Davao del Sur province.

Paniza said Thursday that the investigation showed that the soldiers got involved in a clash with outlaws, denying claims by human rights activists that the army troops intentionally strafed the hut, which was owned by tribesmen opposing mining activities in their ancestral land.