Rights group slams Philippine govt over killings

Manila, Jun 28: The Philippine government's failure to prosecute soldiers responsible for hundreds of extrajudicial killings is causing fear of further abuses in rural communities, a human rights group said today.

''There is strong evidence of a 'dirty war' by the armed forces against left-leaning activists and journalists,'' said Sophie Richardson, deputy Asia director at US-based Human Rights Watch, which has published a report into the murders.

''The failure to prosecute soldiers or police suspected in these killings shifts the spotlight of responsibility to the highest levels of government.'' Local human rights group say more than 800 people have been killed since President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo came to power in 2001. A UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings said in February the military was responsible for many of the deaths.

Under international pressure, the military said it was probing 94 cases of suspected unlawful execution but no one has been charged.

No one from the military was immediately available for comment today.

Arroyo, who is also commander-in-chief, has ordered the creation of special courts to investigate the murders, along with a variety of task forces and commissions to further probe the shootings -- usually carried out by masked men on motorbikes.

Most victims of political killings were leftist activists and community workers based in rural provinces outside Manila.

Government and military have repeatedly blamed the communist New People's Army (NPA) for most of the murders, saying the rebel organisation was purging its own ranks.

But left-wing groups say the murders are part of a military campaign to eliminate them. They say unlawful killings rose after Arroyo accused leftists of allying themselves with military coup plotters in early 2006.

Reuters>