Philippines Muslim deaths: Philippine army kills 10 Muslim militants in major counter-insurgency operation World News
Images used for representational purposes only (Photo credit: AP)
MANILA: Philippine troops killed 10 suspected Muslim militants on Friday, officials said, in the deadliest conflict in the south this year as they battle remaining insurgents who have waged a greatly weakened separatist insurgency.Decades of separatist violence in the south, home to the predominantly Roman Catholic country’s Muslim minority, eased significantly in 2014 after the largest armed group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has thousands of armed guerrillas, signed a Muslim autonomy deal with the government.However, smaller armed groups that refuse to participate in peace talks continue to launch sporadic guerrilla attacks against an independent Muslim state.Police Maj. Gen. Robert Alexander Morico said the latest clashes began when suspected members of a Muslim separatist group called Dawlah Islamiya-Maute opened fire on police and troops who were trying to execute a warrant to arrest its commander in a village in Lanao del Sur province for murder and other alleged crimes.Military officials say Amerol Mangoranka and his fighters have aligned themselves with Islamic State in the past, and the military accuses them of recent guerrilla attacks, including an ambush in nearby Lanao del Norte province in January that killed four soldiers.Mangoranka and nine other suspected militants, including four women, were killed in an hour-long gunbattle in the village of Malantang, Morico and military officials said, adding that there were no government casualties in the clashes.Major General Yegor Rey Barocillo, commander of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division, said: “Our troops have launched a decisive blow and we will continue to advance until a lasting peace is fully achieved.” “This is justice for every fallen soldier, every grieving family and every community that has been struck by terror.” Government forces seized four rifles, a pistol, a grenade and bomb parts, according to the military and police.An infant found at the scene of the fighting received unspecified medical treatment, the military said in a statement, without elaborating.The 2014 peace deal brought significant relief to decades of on-again, off-again fighting that killed tens of thousands of combatants and civilians, displaced large numbers of rural villagers and hampered development in resource-rich areas and some of the country’s poorest areas.The military is fighting alone against a decades-old communist insurgency that has been weakened by combat setbacks, infighting and surrenders.
