MUSLIM REBELS CLAIM KILLING HUNDREDS OF GOV'T TROOPS

Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines said Thursday they have killed more than 500 government troops in 10 months of fighting since the collapse of peace talks, a claim the military dismissed as propaganda.

• The 11,500-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front also accused government forces of deliberately burning 2,000 houses, killing villagers suspecting of supporting the guerrillas, bombing a mosque and blocking food for displaced residents.
• Military spokesman Lt. Col. Romero Brawner denied the rebel claims, calling them "pure, black propaganda."
• The rebels are fighting for Muslim self-rule in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation's south. There are no reliable independent casualty counts, but estimates of the death toll in fighting since the 1970s when the rebellion began range as high as 120,000.
• Both sides have largely respected a 2003 truce, but clashes have resumed since the Philippine Supreme Court last August scrapped a preliminary peace deal that would have expanded an autonomous Muslim region on the main southern island of Mindanao.
• Chief rebel negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said unrelenting military air and ground attacks have caused widespread destruction and suffering in predominantly Muslim communities, prompting his group to allow commanders to strike back at troops.

Courtesy: The News tribune