MINDANAO, Philippines, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Filipino troops Sunday launched attacks on villages held by a rebel Muslim group as a cease-fire agreement was set to take effect, officials said.
The action was undertaken by the government in the North Cotabato province of Mindanao, where members of the Moro Islam Liberation Front were holding 10 villages.
Jorge Segovia, acting chief of the Philippines Command Center, confirmed the government has launched clearing operations in the villages, Xinhua, the state-run Chinese news agency, reported.
"In certain areas of North Cotabato with a specific group of MILF, all peaceful means have been exhausted to resolve the conflicts and we are now compelled to resort to the application of justifiable force," Segovia said in a written statement.
The Philippines had reached a cease-fire agreement with the MILF, which had agreed to leave the North Cotabato villages. But Segovia says soldiers on the ground were ignoring the deal and hanging onto their positions, making them a "bandit group."
MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal called government's offensive a "gross violation of the cease fire," GMANews reported.
