(SomaliNet) Philippine officials said on Tuesday, citing radio intercepts that troops killed at least 10 Muslim rebels in six hours of intense fighting in the troubled south of the country. I've noticed over the years that they never seem to kill anybody in the placid west, or the untroubled north, or even in the blissful east. It's always the troubled south that gets it. I dunno why that is.
15 rogue members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) were also wounded in the clash on Monday in mountains near Wao town in the Mindanao region, army spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Romeo Brawner Jr said.
"We did not suffer any casualty in this encounter," Brawner told reporters, adding the rebels suffered heavy losses due to air strikes and artillery fire.
"We could not confirm the actual casualty count, but, based on communications intercepts and our own intelligence, the rebels lost 10 fighters and 15 others were seriously wounded in air and ground attacks."
Last week, the military ordered troops to scale down offensives against rogue MILF units to help hundreds of thousands of displaced people return to their homes and farms before the Christmas holidays.