A large group of Moro fighters ambushed a convoy of Philippine troops in Lanao del Sur province on Sunday, killing seven soldiers and wounding 11 others, a spokesman for the Philippine Army reported. Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr. said the soldiers were in a four-vehicle convoy and were about to deliver cash allowances to militiamen in neighboring Lumba-Bayabao town at around 8 A.M. when they were ambushed by around 100 armed men, believed to be members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) The sneak attack sparked a two-hour gun battle between Philippine troops and MILF forces, said Army Brig. Gen. Hilario Atendido. Lanao del Sur on Mindanao island is a known stronghold of the MILF, the largest Moro secessionist group in the Philippines whose forces occupied 15 villages in North Cotabato last week. The MILF fighters eventually pulled out of the villages after a full-scale offensive launched by the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Sunday's attack came a week after the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order on the signing of a homeland deal between the MILF and the Arroyo government. Meanwhile, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has ordered its armed wing, the New People's Army (NPA), to support the MILF by launching sympathy attacks against Philippine government forces. In a statement, the CPP expressed its full support to the MILF in its bid for self-determination and the return of Moro ancestral lands. The CPP noted that both the MILF and itself are struggling against the US-Arroyo regime and the entire “rotten, reactionary and oppressive semi-colonial and semi-feudal system.” The CPP blasted the Arroyo government's “sinister ploy” at pretending to talk peace with the MILF and draft an agreement that was designed to fail all along. __
