Philippine Military Says 60 Rebels Killed in Air Strikes

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, May 19, 2003

Philippine Military Says 60 Rebels Killed in Air Strikes

Sixty rebels of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) were killed Sunday when the military began air strikes against rebel positions in the southern Philippines, the military said.

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Sixty rebels of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) were killed Sunday when the military began air strikes against rebel positions in the southern Philippines, the military said.

Three government soldiers were wounded in the heightened military offensive ordered by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo before leaving for an eight-day state visit to the United States on Saturday, a Philippine Daily Inquirer on-line news report quoted the military as saying.

Two Air Force OV-10 warplanes and four MG-520 helicopter gunships bombed MILF positions in three towns in Lanao del Norte province. The air strikes were followed by artillery bombardments and ground assaults, it said.

Apart from Lao del Norte, rebel positions in several other provinces were also subjected to the military campaign, Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Narciso Abaya said.

Primary targets are areas where MILF rebels seek sanctuary whenbeing pursued by government forces, he said on local radio dzMM.

The military Southern Command chief, Lieutenant General Roy Kyamco reportedly said three battalions of infantry and two of Marines have been deployed in Mindanao since the presidential order to reinforce the three Army divisions and two Marine brigades permanently deployed in the area.

Arroyo authorized the military on Saturday to employ selective aerial and artillery attacks to dislodge "embedded terrorist cells" that have attacked civilians in the southern island of Mindanao.

"Our country has been under terrorist attack -- sporadic, intermittent but nevertheless deadly, " she said, citing a series of bombings and raids that have killed nearly 100 people in Mindanao since March.

The government blamed most of the bombings and raids on the 12,000-strong MILF, the country's largest rebel group which has been fighting for an independent Islamic state in Mindanao since 1978.

Responding to Arroyo's order, MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said the group would fight back if the military launched a new offensive.

Last week, Arroyo also give the MILF a June 1 deadline to ceaseattacks on civilians and cut links with terrorist groups or risk being labeled as a terrorist organization.

Authorities have alleged the MILF has links with local and foreign terrorist groups such as the Abu Sayyaf and the Jemaah Islamiyah.

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