At least ten suspected Muslim separatist rebels were killed on Tuesday in air strikes carried out by government security forces in the restive southern Philippines, a military official said.
The latest hostilities in the region occurred just after the government said they expect to resume the stalled peace talks anytime this month with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the country's largest rebel organization active in the south.
An OV-10 aircraft dropped bombs on the enemy position in the village of Sangay in Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat province, around 7:00 a.m. local time (2300 GMT on Monday) after 100 guerrillas were seen massing up, said Lieutenant Colonel Julieto Ando, a local Army spokesperson.
"They were planning to attack our soldiers, so we launch the air offensives," Ando told a Xinhua reporter.
Rebel spokesperson Eid Kabalu confirmed the air attacks but denied that the fighters were massing up in the village.
"We are not planning to attack the soldiers," Kabalu said.
The government has suspended peace talks with the MILF after the guerrillas attacked areas across Mindanao in August last year to protest a court order stopping a deal that would have given the rebels control over a Muslim autonomous region.
The MILF has been fighting for a separate Islamic state since 1978. It signed a cease-fire in 2003 with the government, but skirmishes have been going on and off along with the peace talks between the two sides.
Source:Xinhua
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