Fresh fighting between the Philippine military and a Muslim rebel group killed two marines and a child on a southern island, the military said Saturday, despite a decade-old peace accord. A faction of the Moro National Liberation Front or MNLF fired mortars in and around Jolo island's Panamao town, killing a child and wounding another late Friday, said marine spokesman Lt. Col. Ariel Caculitan, according to AP. The mortar assault on the town continued Saturday. Two marines died and eight more were injured in the shelling, and in gunfights with followers of rebel commander Habier Malik. It was unclear what prompted the attack. Malik captured national attention in February when he held a Philippine marine major general and 19 other military officers for two days, demanding more benefits under the peace accord signed by the MNLF and government in 1996. The guerrillas released their hostages unharmed after the Organization of the Islamic Conference, which brokered the peace agreement, promised to discuss the accord with MNLF representatives in Saudi Arabia later this year. The military commander on Jolo, Brig. Gen. Ruben Rafael, said that the attack violated the peace agreement and that the military «will suppress this lawlessness perpetrated by this group.» The marines fired mortars back at the guerrillas, Rafael said. No MNLF casualties were immediately reported. The MNLF was the largest Muslim separatist group in southern Mindanao region until it decided to agree to autonomy and signed the historic peace agreement with the government in September 1996. Many of its members, particularly those under Malik, refused to disarm over the years and maintained strongholds on Jolo and nearby islands. The guerrillas have accused the government of reneging on promises to deliver political and economic concessions to predominantly Muslim areas under the deal. Philippine officials have tried to avoid antagonizing the MNLF, which has hundreds of armed men on Jolo, and complicating a U.S.-backed massive offensive against the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group and Indonesian militants, who hide in forests near MNLF strongholds. The MNLF has agreed to help the government hunt the Abu Sayyaf on Jolo, about 950 kilometers (590 miles) south of Manila. -- SPA
