Gov't rushes more troops to restive south

MANILA (AFP) - Authorities in the Philippines are to deploy two more battalions to the troubled south after the army suffered some of its heaviest casualties in decades of fighting militants, officials said Friday.

The military has since Tuesday lost 26 dead and 17 wounded in fighting on the southern island of Jolo, military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Bartolome Bacarro said.

Bacarro said two more army battalions, some 1,000 soldiers, will deploy in Jolo to support 4,000 infantry and marines already stationed there.

The Philippines has been rushing forces south since July 10 for a planned punitive campaign against Muslim rebels after 14 Marines were killed on nearby Basilan island. Ten of them were beheaded.

On Thursday, 25 soldiers were killed in two ambushes on Jolo, Bacarro told reporters, the "biggest single-day casualty so far in recent years."

Five gunmen have been killed in three days of fighting, he added, although "intelligence reports" indicated that toll could be as high as 31.

The five confirmed rebel deaths include three members of the Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic militant group with alleged ties to the Al-Qaeda network, who died in clashes Wednesday.

The army said the attackers who ambushed soldiers Thursday were members of the Moro National Liberation Front, a separatist guerrilla force that signed a peace treaty with Manila in 1996, as well as members of the the Abu Sayyaf.

The Abu Sayyaf has been responsible for numerous attacks on Christians and foreigners throughout the Philippines in recent years.

The military has been on an offensive against the Abu Sayyaf in Jolo since last year and has killed two of its major leaders.

Authorities say the Abu Sayyaf and MILF militants were responsible for the July 10 attack and beheadings. The latter group has admitted killing them but denied decapitating the corpses.

More than 23,000 villagers living near MILF camps have fled their homes on Basilan for fear of getting caught up in any possible government attack.

Despite the heightening of tensions, government peace negotiators have said they expect to reopen peace talks with the MILF in Malaysia before the end of this month.