MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine troops, backed by helicopter gunships, regained control of two southern villages from Muslim rebels Monday and pressed ahead with a massive assault to clear 13 others, officials said.
At least one soldier and seven Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas have been killed since nearly 3,000 troops and police launched the attacks on Sunday. The assault, backed by artillery and rocket-firing helicopters, came after the guerrillas defied an ultimatum to withdraw from five towns in North Cotabato province, military vice chief of staff Lt. Gen. Cardozo Luna said.
The fighting has forced about 130,000 villagers to flee their homes. It coincided with a crucial development in ongoing peace talks between the government and the rebels, who have been waging a bloody insurgency for self-rule in the southern Philippines.
The two sides had reached agreement covering the territorial makeup of a future expanded Muslim region, but the signing of the accord was halted last week by the Supreme Court, acting on a petition filed by Christian politicians in North Cotabato who are wary of losing land and power to the Muslims.
Separately Monday, another 300 guerrillas — also suspected of belonging to the Moro group — attacked Basilan province's Tipo Tipo township, some 300 kilometers southwest of North Cotabato, officials said.
129,000 villagers displaced by North Cotabato gunbattles
MARAWI CITY – At least 129,000 villagers have been displaced as a result of heavy fighting between the government troops and forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in five towns of North Cotabato province, municipal disaster councils reported to the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) yesterday.
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Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno yesterday said that the number of evacuees displaced from their homes after heavily armed Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels occupied at least nine barangays from five towns of North Cotabato have increased by more than 20 times as a result of fighting between military forces and MILF guerrillas.
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PANACAN, Davao City – Attack planes and helicopters were mobilized to support ground troops in flushing out a breakaway group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) who defied government’s order to vacate some areas in North Cotabato province.
The Philippine Air Force (PAF) deployed two OV-10 bombers and two MG-520 attack helicopters on Sunday.
This link has a big roundup of related stories on the topic.
Thaksin flees Thailand corruption trial and returns to exile in Britain
The ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra skipped bail today and fled into exile in Britain claiming he could not get a fair trial on a raft of corruption charges because of political inference.
Thaksin and his wife, Pojaman, who was sentenced to three years in jail for fraud two weeks ago, said they had gone to England with their family because they had received "death threats".
The couple had been due to return from the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics to appear before the supreme court this morning to give evidence in a corruption case over a dubious land deal.
Roadside Bomb Kills Eight Soldiers in Turkey
Turkish officials say a roadside bomb has killed at least eight soldiers in eastern Turkey.
Three soldiers were wounded in Monday's attack.
Officials say the landmine went off as a military vehicle was traveling on a remote road in eastern Erzincan province.
India sends troops to Kashmir riots
India is deploying 10,000 additional troops to the troubled state of Jammu & Kashmir after weeks of religious riots triggered by a plan to transfer 40 hectares of forest in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley to the management board of a Hindu shrine.
The deployment was made a day after Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister, met leaders of the country's political parties seeking a compromise to defuse the dispute, which has emerged as a flashpoint between Hindus and Muslims in the state.
The talks did not produce any concrete agreement but the parties issued a joint statement agreeing on the urgent need to prevent further religious polarisation that would "adversely impact on the secular fabric of the nation".
Mauritania coup leaders free prime minister
NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (AP) — Mauritania's ousted prime minister defiantly refused to recognize the African country's ruling military junta Monday, after he was freed from house arrest under international pressure.
Prime Minister Yahya Ould Ahmed Waqef told a rally of several thousand people that the country would not accept last week's bloodless coup that forced President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi from power. Abdallahi remains under arrest.
Speaking just hours after his release, Waqef said the president was in good health and encouraged them to keep pushing to restore the government to power. "The president thanks you for your untiring fight, your strong fight to restore constitutional order," he said.The rally was a significant show of support for the president, who rose to power last year as Mauritania's first freely elected president in more than two decades.
Somali pirates free two Germans
Two Germans kidnapped by pirates off the coast of Somalia and held captive for five weeks have been released.
The couple, named only as 63-year-old Jurgen K and his companion, 51-year-old Sabine M, were sailing through the Gulf of Aden when they were seized.
A ransom worth $1m (600,000 euros; £500,000) was reportedly paid to secure their release.
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Pirate attacks against fishing boats, cargo ships and yachts off Somalia's coast have surged over recent months. Foreigners, who can be exchanged for large ransoms, are frequent targets.
Deadly Riots in Montreal Spark Concerns Over Police Relations With Community
MONTREAL — Montreal's police chief vowed to mend shaky relations between his department and the community, hours after a deadly riot broke out among youth gangs angry over the shooting death of a young man by police.
The rampage erupted late Sunday in the city's north end after a peaceful demonstration to protest the shooting. The violence started when some protesters torched eight cars parked outside a fire station and then spread as rioters set dozens of fires in the streets and pelted responding fire trucks with bottles.
Early Monday morning, heavily armed Quebec provincial police officers escorted firefighters as they doused dozens of fires. Police helicopters surveyed the sector from above.
Police said three officers were injured during the clashes overnight, including one shot in the leg, and an ambulance technician was injured. Six people were arrested for charges such as drug possession and breaking and entering.
Iraq to revive oil deal with China
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Iraq says it's going to revive a $1.2 billion oil deal with China that was canceled after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
The country's Oil Ministry says an initial agreement with China is expected to be signed at the end of August to develop the billion-barrel Ahdab oil field south of Baghdad.
Great. Just great.
Al-Qa'eda in Iraq alienated by cucumber laws and brutality
Besides the terrible killings inflicted by the fanatics on those who refuse to pledge allegiance to them, Al-Qa'eda has lost credibility for enforcing a series of rules imposing their way of thought on the most mundane aspects of everyday life.
They include a ban on women buying suggestively-shaped vegetables, according to one tribal leader in the western province of Anbar.
Sheikh Hameed al-Hayyes, a Sunni elder, told Reuters: "They even killed female goats because their private parts were not covered and their tails were pointed upward, which they said was haram.
"They regarded the cucumber as male and tomato as female. Women were not allowed to buy cucumbers, only men."
*headdesk*
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