Eighteen deaths were reported yesterday in clashes between troops and separatists on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. Members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front set up a roadblock on the road linking the cities of Cotabato and General Santos and stopped a bus. A passenger said the women aboard and those who could speak the local Muslim dialect were spared by the rebels, but nine men were lined up on the roadside. “Then they opened fire,” said Rommel Gamiao, a student aged 24, who was shot in the chest and legs. “I just lay still. Then the soldiers came and they all ran away.” He said the eight others were all killed, although police only recovered sixbodies at the scene. A local military spokesman, Major Julieto Ando, said nine rebels were killed in the pursuit. “They are like mad dogs,” he said. “This is not the work of revolutionaries. This is the work of bandits.” Full Story
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