Breakaway Filipino Rebels Blamed For Killing 2 Soldiers

The Philippines army blamed a breakaway Muslim rebel group Wednesday for the killing of two soldiers outside a Catholic church in the country's south, where one of them had just lit a candle for his 23rd birthday.



Military spokesperson Col. Dickson Hermoso said the two men were unarmed when they were shot dead Tuesday by suspected Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) gunmen riding a motorcycle in the town of Datu Piang.



The BIFF is a breakaway group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Philippines' one-time largest Muslim rebel organization, which signed a peace deal March 27 with the government.



Datu Piang is in Maguindanao province, the home of the largest MILF camp.



"The [unarmed] slain soldiers went to the church just wearing athletic uniforms to light a candle and offer a prayer for birthday celebration," said Hermoso, condemning the deaths.



The army has urged human rights groups to take action as the attack targeted unarmed soldiers as they exited a church.



Elsewhere Tuesday, three security guards were wounded when unidentified men aboard a motorcycle opened fire at a regional medical center's main gate in Cotabato City.   



Suspicion for the earlier attack has also fallen on the BIFF, which has recently declared support for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) along with the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf.



Since breaking away from the MILF in 2008, the BIFF has vowed to destroy the peace deal between the one-time rebel group and the Philippine government.



Last weekend, officials from the MILF and the Philippines government met with international representatives to fine tune the decommissioning of its weapons before the bill is passed next year.



The Abu Sayyaf engages in kidnappings for ransom, bombings, assassinations and extortion. It is the most violent of the religious separatist groups operating in the southern Philippines, and claims to promote an independent Islamic state in western Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Zamboanga