Dozens of police commandos killed in Philippines

Dozens of police commandos
killed in Philippines
Officers killed in clashes with Moro Islamic
Liberation Front fighters in country's south,
putting peace deal at risk.
25 Jan 2015 15:24 GMT | War & Conflict ,
Philippines
Philippine police encountered and clashed with
MILF fighters in exchanges which lasted for
12 hours [Getty Image]
Tahirudin Benzar Ampatuan, the mayor of
Mamasapano, town told the AP news agency
that dozens of police special action force
members entered the village of Tukanalipao
at dawn on Sunday to capture a bombing
suspect.
As they entered the village, the police
encountered and clashed with the MILF
fighters in exchanges which lasted for 12
hours, the mayor said.
Ampatuan said some villagers entered the
scene of the battle after the fighting subsided
and retrieved at least five of the dead.
It was the biggest single-day combat loss for
Philippine forces in many years.
The MILF, the largest rebel group in the south,
accepted an autonomy offer from the
government in March 2014, ending 45 years of
conflict in which 120,000 people were killed
and two million displaced.
Under the deal, brokered by Malaysia, the
fighters were to surrender their weapons and
disband after the government had set up a
new autonomous government in the south and
granted the Muslim minority wider economic
and political power.
Source: Al Jazeera English