Moro rebels in the southern Philippines said Thursday they have killed more than 500 government troops in 10 months of fighting since the collapse of peace talks, a claim the military dismissed as propaganda. The 11,500-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front also accused government forces of deliberately burning 2,000 houses, killing villagers suspecting of supporting the guerrillas, bombing a mosque and blocking food for displaced residents. Military spokesman Lt. Col. Romero Brawner denied the rebel claims, calling them “pure, black propaganda.” The rebels are fighting for Moro self-rule in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation's south. There are no reliable independent casualty counts, but estimates of the death toll in fighting since the 1970s when the rebellion began range as high as 120,000. Both sides have largely respected a 2003 truce, but clashes have resumed since the Philippine Supreme Court last August scrapped a preliminary peace deal that would have expanded an autonomous Moro region in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. Chief rebel negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said unrelenting military air and ground attacks have caused widespread destruction and suffering in predominantly Moro communities, prompting his group to allow commanders to strike back at troops. The military said it is targeting three rebel commanders who went on a deadly rampage in Christian communities after the self-rule deal was scrapped.
