Bloody Christmas in Philippines as Muslim guerrillas kill 10

From AFP via Yahoo News

Manila (AFP) – Muslim guerrillas killed 10 civilians in the majority Catholic Philippines over Christmas, the military said Sunday, with some Christians in the affected areas now too scared to sleep in their homes.

Guerillas from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) captured nine farmers and shot them dead on December 24 in the southern island of Mindanao, said Colonel Ricky Bunayog, commander of the local battalion. Some of the bodies were not found till two days later, he told AFP.

Also on Christmas eve, the BIFF launched an attack on a village in Pigcawayan town, some 900 kilometres (560 miles) south of Manila, that left a district official dead, the colonel added.

Bunayog could not rule out more attacks by the BIFF, which split from main Muslim rebel group the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)in 2008 after the MILF opened a peace process with the government.

He said members of the group had been seen meeting “in numbers beyond their usual size,” but could not give a motive for their new attacks on Christian communities.

A BIFF spokesman earlier confirmed they were behind the raids but had said it was over an unspecified land dispute.

The BIFF continues to seek a separate Islamic state and remains opposed to a government-MILF effort to create a Muslim autonomous area in Mindanao as part of a peace agreement.

Last year, the BIFF uploaded clips on YouTube showing one of its leaders pledging support for the Islamic State organisation