Philippine troops battled Muslim guerrillas in a volatilesouthern province Tuesday in fierce fighting that killed at least 19 combatantsand left 10 soldiers missing, officials said.
Regional military spokesman Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbangsaid the fighting erupted at dawn Tuesday near Al-Barka town on Basilan islandwhen troops were investigating reports of rebel incursions. Sporadic clashescontinued late into the night in the remote region, he said.
At least 13 soldiers were killed and 11 wounded, and 10others were missing, he said.
Moro Islamic Liberation Front spokesman Von Al Haq said atleast three rebels were initially killed in the clash, but police reported atleast six rebels were killed.
Al Haq said government troops provoked the fighting byattacking the rebels in their Al-Barka stronghold in violation of an existingcease-fire. Army troops shelled the rebel stronghold after the initial clash,trapping villagers in the fighting, he said.
"The Philippine army is continuously bombarding thearea where innocent civilians are being caught in the middle of the ferociousartillery strike," the rebels said in a statement on their website."This attack of the government forces blatantly violated the existingceasefire accord."
Cabangbang said troops were deployed to check reports byvillagers that a group of gunmen known to be holding kidnap victims had strayedin areas close to their communities. He said the troops did not intrude on theguerrilla stronghold, and were about two miles (4 kilometers) from it when theywere fired upon by the Moro rebels, prompting the troops to fight back, hesaid.
Cabangbang said the military believes the gunmen included aformer rebel commander identified as Dan Laksaw Asnawi, who escaped from aBasilan jail in 2009 with 30 other inmates. Asnawi was detained for his allegedinvolvement in the beheading of 14 marines during a 2007 clash in Al-Barka,Cabangbang said.
"When we're running after a criminal and get near theirarea, they cannot just kill our soldiers," Cabangbang told The AssociatedPress by telephone.
The Moro rebels who clashed with troops were withal-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf militants, he said. Al Haq countered that rebelsfrom his group do not operate with the violent Abu Sayyaf.
Cabangbang said special army forces were searching for themissing soldiers in Basilan, a predominantly Muslim island about 550 miles (880kilometers) south of Manila.
Al Haq said an army general called him seeking the saferelease of the missing soldiers if they were in rebel custody. Al Haq said hereplied that his group could not immediately reach their fighters by phone toask if they were holding military captives.
The 11,000-strong rebel group has waged a bloody insurgencyfor self-rule in the southern Mindanao region, the homeland of minority Muslimsin the predominantly Roman Catholic country. The conflict has killed more than120,000 people and stunted development of the resource-rich but impoverishedsouth.
Malaysian-brokered peace talks between the rebels and thegovernment received a major boost in August when President Benigno Aquino IIImet rebel chairman Al Haj Murad Ibrahim in Tokyo to bolster the negotiations.
The rebels, however, rejected a government proposal forMuslim autonomy when talks resumed a few weeks later in Malaysia but they saidthey will continue with the talks.