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| Southeast Asia | ||
| 13 dead as Muslim rebels clash in Philippines | ||
| 2011-02-04 | ||
| [Emirates 24/7] Weeks of festivities between rival Mohammedan rebel groups in the southern Philippines have left 13 people moulderin' in the grave and forced thousands of others to flee their homes, the military said on Thursday. Hey! Let's you and him fight!! More than 1,000 rebels armed with rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars have been involved in the fighting, as the two sides seek control of valuable farmland on Mindanao island, local army commanders said. "One group will attack the other, then break off. The other group will then stage an attack in retaliation. It is a series of skirmishes," regional military front man Major Marlowe Patria said. We're thinking of putting it on Pay Per View...
Another 800 families had been evacuated to escape the fighting, which was occurring in rice fields and rural villages about 60 kilometres from Cotabato City, a main trading centre of the south, according to Patria. The feud is between a commander of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the country's original Mohammedan separatist group, and a commander from the breakaway Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), he said. MILF front man Mohager Iqbal said the two commanders were fighting over 1,000 hectares of riceland, while emphasising the dispute was a local one and not between the main groups. Ya gotta do these things once in awhile. Gets rid of the bad blood. "It is not the MNLF and MILF that are at war. It is just some members of the MILF and some members of the MNLF," Iqbal said. Ah. Thanks for clearing that up. The local government as well as the leadership of the MNLF and MILF have been trying to broker a ceasefire this week, but fighting continued on Wednesday and there were fears the conflict could escalate. Yeah, that'd be too bad if they wiped each other out... "It really looks like they don't respect the orders of their superiors," local battalion commander Colonel Domingo Gobway said. Kinda like when Frank Pentangeli went after the Rosato brothers... "We have monitored that there are many reinforcements from both sides who are coming in." Maybe you could set up HOV lanes? Military intelligence officers in the area said the two rival commanders, who live near each other,
They then ordered up more popcorn... | ||
| Posted by:Fred |