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CASUALTIES OF WAR: A soldier viewing the remains of a comrade at a funeral parlour in Zamboanga City yesterday. More than 20 soldiers were killed in the clashes. -- PHOTO: AP
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MANILA - THE heaviest fighting in years between Philippine forces and Muslim militants has left at least 54 dead, including 26 soldiers, with the military planning to strongly reinforce its troop presence on the volatile southern island of Jolo.
On Thursday morning, gunmen ambushed an army convoy heading to the town of Maimbung to buy supplies, killing 10 soldiers. This was the second ambush by Muslim militants against government forces in recent weeks.
Reinforcements rushed to join a pursuit force fighting running battles with around 100 militants in mountainous terrain near Maimbung. Sixteen soldiers were killed in these clashes, with 17 wounded over the day.
There were no reports of fighting yesterday, but a spokesman for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said troops were searching for the militants.
An AFP spokesman blamed Abu Sayyaf extremists and rogue elements of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) for the ambush. In four clashes since Tuesday, 31 militants have been killed. Thursday's fighting claimed 27 of them.
The military plans to send two army battalions - around 1,000 men - to reinforce some 6,000 army and marines on Jolo to hunt the Abu Sayyaf and other militants.
'We will not stop, we will go after them. We expect fiercer battles,' General Hermogenes Esperon, AFP chief of staff, told reporters.
The Philippines has been building up its troop presence in the south since 14 marines were killed in an ambush on the island of Basilan on July 10 by Muslim militants.
Last August, the AFP launched a large offensive in the archipelago's southernmost islands against the Abu Sayyaf, which once had ties to Al-Qaeda.
While several commanders have been killed, an estimated 400 militants are still on the loose. The largest force, split into groups, is on Jolo.
The military believes they are being helped by rogue elements in the MNLF and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), disobeying orders from their high commands to not side with the extremists.
All the same, close family and kinship ties link members of the Abu Sayyaf, which was spawned on Basilan and Jolo in the early 1990s, and the two Moro rebel fronts.
'The MNLF's leadership is alarmed by the latest clashes,' said Mr Jose Lorena, a member of the MNLF's negotiating panel for a 1996 peace deal it signed with the government. 'I spoke to their chief of staff on Thursday night and he was worried that the fighting could interrupt the tripartite talks set for later this month.' He was referring to negotiations brokered by a group of Islamic countries between the MNLF and the government.
Frustration in the MNLF over the failure to fully implement the 1996 peace accord, coupled with discontent in the MILF camp over the slow pace of its peace negotiations with the government, are simmering with potentially explosive consequences.
Around 6,000 people were displaced on Basilan following military operations after the July 10 ambush.
Fearing many civilians in Jolo's conflict area will flee their homes in anticipation of an offensive against the militants, a provincial governor has ordered the mayors of two nearby towns to prepare evacuation centres.
amcindoe@yahoo.com
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