Philippine troops kill 12 Muslim rebels

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine troops killed the leader of a small Muslim rebel group and eleven of his men blamed for past bombings and extortion in a clash in the country’s south, military officials said Tuesday.

Seven soldiers were wounded in the hourlong gunbattle Monday against suspected members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in a marshy hinterland in Datu Saudi Ampatuan town in Maguindanao del Sur province, Brig. Gen. Jose Vladimir Cagara said.

Cagara said a key commander of the rebel group, Mohiden Animbang, who used the nom de guerre Karialan, was killed, along with his brother, Saga Animbang and 10 other suspected militants. About a dozen of their firearms were recovered from the battle scene.

Army officials have tried to persuade Animbang’s group to surrender but it chose to continue fighting the government, said Lt. Col. Dennis Almorato, a regional army spokesperson.

The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters is among a few armed groups still waging a separatist uprising in the southern Philippines, homeland of minority Muslims in the largely Catholic nation.

The largest armed separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, signed a 2014 peace pact with the government that eased decades of sporadic fighting.