Hundreds flee as clashes erupt in Philippine south

Manila, Feb 12: Hundreds of people have fled a village in the southern Philippines after troops stormed a Muslim rebel base, hunting for dozens of prisoners who escaped from jail earlier this month, the rebels said today.

Tanks rolled into the remote village on the island of Mindanao as soldiers shelled positions of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), with 105mm howitzers, Mohaqher Iqbal, an official from the group said.

The MILF, the Philippines' largest Muslim separatist group, has a shaky ceasefire with the government of the largely Catholic country.

There were no casualties reported but more than 200 families starting fleeing their homes and farms before daybreak yesterday when soldiers launched an offensive in the area, Iqbal said.

''We're strongly protesting the indiscriminate use of force,'' said Iqbal, who also heads the rebels' peace negotiating panel. ''They're putting at risk the innocent Muslim communities and threatening the peace process.'' But the Philippine military denied targetting the MILF and said it was pursuing a group of 50 prisoners who escaped from a local jail on February 2.

''Our pursuit operations were not directed at them but against those who escaped from the provincial jail in Kidapawan,'' army spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Julieto Ando, told reporters, adding soldiers had come under heavy gunfire while approaching the village.

The government and the MILF sides are trying to revive peace talks stalled since May 2006 due to differences over a proposed deal on territory in the south.

But efforts have been complicated by intermittent clashes between the rebels, soldiers and militias since January.

Iqbal said the rebels' ceasefire panel had filed an official protest, asking the military to stop attacking rebel positions.

Reuters