Philippine troops seize camp as thousands flee
Troops have overrun a hideout occupied by gunmen in the southern Philippines after a week of fighting that left 13 dead and forced thousands of civilians to flee, officials said Thursday. Most of the estimated 100 gunmen holed up in the remote camp on Mindanao island had fled, although two surrendered earlier, said Philippine Army commander Lieutenant-General Arturo Ortiz. "Yes, the camp of Commander Waning has been overrun," Ortiz told reporters, referring to the alias of the gunmen's alleged leader, who has been ordered arrested by a court to stand trial for kidnapping. "There are reports that he fled with 40 of his men and that he had been wounded and unable to walk due to his injuries," Ortiz added. Several hundred troops were combing through the gunmen's hideout, in a marshy area that had been fortified with reinforced concrete bunkers, he added. Elite troops entered the camp in the Zamboanga Sibugay region on Wednesday after air raids -- the Philippines' first for three years -- and artillery barrages that began on Monday. The gunmen, who had been pursued by the military for some time over a range of crimes including murder and extortion, had occupied schools in nearby towns, before armed forces pushed them back to their base. "This has become a lair of extortionists and petty criminals. This is where they hide out... they are well armed," Mabanta said of the marshy 3.5 square-kilometre (1.35 square-mile) camp. The government has accused the gunmen of killing four soldiers and four policemen in ambushes there last week, as well as for previous kidnappings. The gunmen were initially identified as members of the country's main Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, but the MILF disowned them on Tuesday. Nonetheless the MILF has claimed responsibility for the killing of 19 special forces commandos last week on the nearby island of Basilan after they strayed into rebel territory in a separate incident. The violence has cast a shadow over the government's peace talks with the MILF, which began in 2003 and include a ceasefire. President Benigno Aquino said on Monday that the peace process would continue, a stand later echoed by the 12,000-strong MILF. The military operations chief, Brigadier-General Jose Mabanta, said two soldiers and six gunmen were killed during the earlier stages of the operation against the camp, adding they were verifying reports 16 other gunmen had died. The civil defence office in Manila said four civilians were also killed in the area and another civilian was killed on Basilan, without saying who was responsible for the deaths. Almost 20,000 people in total have been forced from their homes in the two areas by fighting between government forces and gunmen, who included Muslim rebels, officials said. Area disaster officials said more than 11,500 people fled their homes on Mindanao island and a further 7,800 took refuge in government evacuation centres on Basilan. Meanwhile an improvised bomb tore through a restaurant on the outskirts of the port of Zamboanga late Wednesday, killing one person and wounding eight others, police said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, while police disarmed two other improvised explosive devices at a lottery shop nearby. The regional military spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Bartolome Cabangbang, said the authorities did not believe the bombing was connected to the military offensive against the camp. "We do not see that they are related," Cabangbang told AFP.
