12 soldiers killed in clashes with rebels in S. Philippines

The military confirmed that 12 of its elite troops died in fierce skirmishes with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels and Abu Sayyaf militants in the southern province of Basilan early Tuesday. Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang, spokesman of the Western Mindanao Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said on top of the 12 troops that were killed, 11 other elite troops were wounded and 10 others missing. The soldiers were deployed to check on the presence of an armed group in the area when clashes erupted on the outskirts of Al Barkah town. "Our troops were operating based on the information of the presence of an armed group, possibly with kidnap victims," said Cabangbang. Cabangbang said the group was reportedly headed by Dan Laksaw Asnawi, a fugitive MILF leader who escaped from the Basilan provincial jail in December 2009. Asnawi is facing murder charges in connection with the 2007 killing of 14 marine soldiers in Al Barkah town, 10 of them beheaded. "They (soldiers) did not intrude into MILF areas of temporary stay," said Cabangbang, "We suffered casualties and currently our count is 12 KIA (killed in action), 11 WIA (wounded in action) and 10 MIA (missing in action)." Government troops are prohibited under a standing truce from operating in MILF areas without prior coordination with the secessionist group. Cabangbang said the military was coordinating with the government's Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) and the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (AHJAG) " because allegedly some MILF members were involved in the killing and wounding of our soldiers." The CCCH and the AHJAG were established as part of the standing ceasefire agreement between the government and the MILF. The government and the MILF are engaged in peace negotiations for over a decade. According to Philippine National Police spokesperson Agrimero Cruz Jr., seven people were killed on the rebel side. The military were reinforced with airstrikes launched by the Philippine Airforce, Cabangbang said, adding the operations were on going while the wounded and killed soldiers have been airlifted to the southern city of Zamboanga. The MILF has been fighting government troops for decades to establish a self-rule Muslim sub-state in the south of the predominantly Catholic country. Peace talks between the government and the MILF stalled in August 2008 following the aborted signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain. A final peace deal with the government will touch the issues of autonomy and the civil settlement of the rebel group's 11,800-strong guerrilla fighters. The Abu Sayyaf, active in southern Philippines, was founded in the 1990s and has perpetrated a number of high-profile attacks, including kidnapping, bombing and beheading. The Philippine military estimates the group, which has links with external terrorist organizations such as al-Qaida, currently has less than 400 members.