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| Southeast Asia |
| 3 die in accidental blast |
| 2010-02-19 |
| [Straits Times] A NINE-YEAR-OLD boy and a young couple were killed when a discarded grenade went off in a rebel-infested area of the volatile southern Philippines, police said on Thursday. "Honey, have you seen my grenade?" "Junior's just showing it to the new neighbors!" The three were burning woodland in a village on Mindanao island on Wednesday, igniting the rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) that is suspected to have been left behind by Islamist insurgents, provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Alex Lineses said. 'The RPG may have been left there by the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) and exploded when it was heated by the fire. They died on the spot,' Mr Lineses told reporters. He said the dead man was only 18 and his wife aged just 16. The boy was the husband's brother. They were burning the trees at Kabingi village in Maguindanao province to later gather the wood for use as coal. The blast happened as President Gloria Arroyo was touring Mindanao, raising security concerns, Lineses said. The 12,000-strong MILF has been waging a separatist rebellion on Mindanao since 1978. On Wednesday, the group rejected government's offer for an expanded autonomy in the south, dashing hopes of a final peace deal before Arroyo steps down as president on June 30. Police say unexploded ordnance remains in the rebel held areas from when the MILF were locked in battles with government forces in late 2008. About 400 people were killed in the fighting, and 200,000 remain displaced. |
| Posted by:Fred |