Philippines says kills 13 rebels in air strikes

MANILA-At least 13 Muslim guerrillas were killed Thursday when Philippine aircraft dropped bombs on a fortified rebel position in a southern marshland, an army spokesman said.Major Randolph Cabangbang said dozens of rebels from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) were also wounded when soldiers called in an air strike to flush out guerrillas hiding behind thick concrete bunkers and trenches in the Datu Piang area."Bombs were dropped from planes and rockets were fired from helicopters to soften the ground," Cabangbang said, adding the air strikes helped ground troops take the rebel position without much resistance."We did not lose any soldier in the attack, but we were told the rebels suffered heavy casualties. Based on our intelligence, 13 were killed and 30 were wounded in the attack."Colonel Marlou Salazar, a brigade commander in Maguindanao province, said the rebels have been using a network of concrete irrigation canals as trenches and foxholes."They were also digging bomb shelters under some concrete houses in a number of abandoned communities," he told reporters, adding about 60 rebels were in the area where planes dropped 500-pound bombs.Nearly 300 people have been killed in two months of fighting between security forces and renegades from the largest Muslim rebel group in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic state. The fighting has displaced more than 500,00 people.Violence erupted in mid-August after the country's high court stopped the signing of an agreement between the government and the MILF expanding an existing Muslim autonomous region and granting it wider political, social and economic powers.Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled to strike down the deal as unconstitutional, making it more difficult for the two sides to return to peace talks.
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