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MANILA â€" More than 40 people have been killed and a school district supervisor kidnapped in separate incidents around the island of Mindanao, days after a landmark peace deal was struck with the largest Muslim insurgency group in the Philippines, officials have said.
The bloodiest battles involved a group opposed to the peace deal, but military commanders said the timing of the fighting was not related to the announcement of the peace agreement and was initiated by police officers and soldiers trying to arrest rebel fighters.
“There is no direct link between the signing of the peace agreement and this operation,†Col. Ramon Zagala said in a phone interview. “But it has an effect on the peace process. We consider this group to be a spoiler to the peace agreement.â€
On Saturday, the Philippine government finalized the details of a peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front that would give the group control over an autonomous area of Mindanao and let it share the wealth from the area’s resources in return for the rebels gradually giving up their weapons. The deal seeks to end decades of violence in the area and bring economic growth to the struggling region.
Many groups, including the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, which has been engaged in fighting in the last few days with the military, and the Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, are opposed to the peace deal and are seeking a separate, strict Islamic state on the island of Mindanao.
Two days after the weekend peace deal was struck, the Philippine police and military launched an assault against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, a militant group of several hundred fighters. The bodies of at least 37 rebels have been recovered in remote villages in the central part of Mindanao, Colonel Zagala said. One soldier was also killed.
“This was a law enforcement operation initiated by the government and led by the Philippine National Police,†he said. “This is not your ordinary bandit group. They are well armed and well organized, so the Armed Forces of the Philippines were needed to support the police.â€
The police and military coordinated the operation with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the group that entered into Saturday’s peace deal, because the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters operate in territory nearby. Colonel Zagala said the Moro Islamic Liberation Front did not oppose the government assault on the smaller rebel group.
In unrelated fighting on the eastern side of Mindanao, a government soldier and three rebels from the communist New People’s Army were killed in a battle Wednesday morning. On Monday, in a separate incident, a school district supervisor on the western coast of Mindanao was kidnapped by eight armed men.
Government officials who negotiated the peace deal have said that they hope the agreement will make the island of Mindanao less lawless, more prosperous and decrease overall violence, not just incidents related to the Muslim insurgency. Kidnappings, bombings, firefights with rebels and airstrikes by the Philippine military are common occurrences throughout Mindanao.
In December, there were 18 attacks on the island of Mindanao related to the Muslim insurgency, according to data from a risk mitigation firm, Pacific Strategies and Assessments. In addition, there were 61 attacks on the island in the same period by the New People’s Army.
“The majority of the Muslim insurgency-related incidents in 2013 were linked to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters,†said Mars Buan, a senior analyst with the group.
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