HELICOPTER gunships blasted Muslim rebel positions in the southern Philippines today after guerillas attacked an army outpost violating a two-year-old ceasefire. Fighting broke out late yesterday when about 100 guerillas of the Muslim separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) attacked soldiers on the outskirts of Mamasapano town in central Mindanao. They used mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles, spokesmen for the military and MILF said. Fighting continued throughout the night and into today and two MG520 helicopters were called in to attack MILF positions. Extra troops were also deployed to prevent the rebels from overrunning the outpost, military spokesman Colonel Franklin del Prado said.Two soldiers were wounded in the fighting, the colonel said, adding that retreating rebels were seen dragging at least five wounded or dead comrades behind them. Colonel Del Prado said the attack at Mamasapano, about 60km south of Cotabato city, was mounted by forces of MILF commander Abdul Rahman Binago whose brother, Fides Binago, leader of the Abu Sofia bandit group, was killed last week. The attack indicated there was an alliance between the Abu Sofia, which has been involved in kidnappings and robberies, and the MILF which had signed a ceasefire with Manila in 2002, he said.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu confirmed that the forces of Binago had attacked the outpost in apparent retaliation for his brother's death but stressed that this was not sanctioned by the MILF leadership. Kabalu said the MILF leadership was trying to contact Binago to get him to pull out and that an international team of ceasefire monitors was being rushed to the area to keep the fighting from spreading. About 50 security officials from Brunei, Malaysia and Libya have been deployed to the southern Philippines as part of an international team to monitor the ceasefire between the MILF and the Government. A Malaysian team was proceeding to the site of the fighting along with a joint government-MILF monitoring group, Kabalu said. Colonel Del Prado was unable to confirm if the monitoring team had arrived. The 12,000-strong MILF has been waging a 26-year rebellion in the southern third of this largely Christian archipelago. Despite the signing of the ceasefire and the start of initial peace talks, sporadic clashes and military allegations that rebel commanders are sheltering members of the regional Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorist network have strained the peace process.