Soldiers killed 13 Moro rebels and wounded dozens in heavy fighting in the southern Philippines on Friday, an army spokesman said, adding that the military has thwarted a plot by the guerrillas to attack a farming village. Fighting across oil and gas-rich marshlands and nearby hills on the southern island of Mindanao has escalated in the last six weeks and displaced more than 50,000 families, pushing back prospects for the resumption of peace talks stalled since August 2008. Five soldiers were also wounded when troops clashed for two hours with Moro guerrillas from rogue factions of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) near Guindulungan town in Maguindanao province. “Our artillery fire scored direct hits, killing 13 rebels,” Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Ponce told reporters, adding that helicopters and warplanes were sent to provide close air support to ground troops. “Dozens of rebels were also wounded. Our troops are now pursuing the remnants.” Ponce said the soldiers were alerted by some civilians about the presence of a large number of members of rogue factions of the MILF outside their village. “The rebels are getting desperate. They are getting hungry and are raiding villages for food, stealing grain and livestock. Our troops went there to protect the community,” Ponce said. The military launched an offensive against rogue rebels last August when they went on the rampage after peace negotiations between the government and the MILF collapsed. Nearly 600 people have been killed since then, many of them civilians caught up in the fighting. About 2,000 houses in Maguindanao province alone have been set on fire. Appeal for Vagni's release The International Committee of the Red Cross renewed its appeal to the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf to release from its captivity Italian Eugenio Vagni, nearly five months after being seized in the southern Philippine province of Sulu. In an emotional appeal, the ICRC said Vagni's family is still waiting for his return and take down their Christmas decorations at home. “The Christmas decorations he put up last December are still there, waiting for him to take them down. We want Eugenio and his family to know how much he is missed by his colleagues. We hope the abductors will heed our repeated appeals and release him at once,” the ICRC said on its website. It said that despite Vagni's communication with his wife last Tuesday, concerns for his safety remain high. On Wednesday, Senator Richard Gordon belied reports that Vagni had been killed or died in captivity in the jungles of Sulu. “He called his wife yesterday or two days ago…Vagni was a subject of rumors a few days ago,” Gordon said in an interview on Friday.
