30 Philippines policemen killed in clash with insurgents

About 30 police commandos involved in fierce battle with Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebel group, a militant organisation in Philippine, were killed on Sunday.

The commandos had gone to Tukanalipao, a village in the southern part of the country, in search of Zulkifli bin Hir, a Malaysian terror suspect blamed by US and Philippine authorities for several deadly bombings in the southern part of the country.

Hir, who had allegedly provided bomb-making training and funds to local al Qaeda-linked militants, is believed to have been hiding in the country’s south since 2003.

At least two villagers were wounded in the gun battle and many others residing near the scene of the fighting fled from their homes.

A government official described the incident as the biggest single-day combat loss for the country’s security forces in years.

Two security officials who spoke to AFP anonymously because they were unauthorised to speak with reporters, said they narrowly escaped being killed in Sunday’s fighting.

An initial police report seen by AP said at least 37 police commandos perished in the fighting, while six insurgents were killed and 11 others wounded.

Restituto Padilla, the country’s military spokesman, said government troops were helping the police retrieve the dead from the scene of the clash.

“No military units were involved in the fighting,” he said.

Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels had signed a peace deal with the government last year and forged a ceasefire that has been safeguarded by a Malaysia-led team of foreign truce monitors.

Signed in March, the pact aims to establish a more powerful and better-funded autonomous region for minority Muslims in the south and end a decades-long rebellion. The conflict has left 150,000 people dead while stunting development in the country’s poorest region.

Aside from Moro rebels, hardline insurgents who broke off from the main Moro group a few years ago because they opposed peace talks with the government also inhabit Tukanalipao and outlying villages.

At least four smaller armed groups, including the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group, have continued fighting government forces and staging attacks in the south.