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![The fighting has left scores dead and half a million displaced [AFP]](http://mwcnews.net/images/stories/Asia/A/C/Philippines-intensifies.jpg "The fighting has left scores dead and half a million displaced [AFP]") | | The fighting has left scores dead and half a million displaced [AFP] |
The Philippine army says it is moving to protect civilians in the country's southern conflict zone as it continues to hunt separatist commanders whose capture could be key to renewing stalled peace talks.
The rethink on tactics comes after a family of six was killed in the crossfire between Muslim Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters and the army this week. The Philippine military blamed the separatists for provoking the air attack that killed the family, including four children, and said it was investigating the incident. Negotiations between the government and the MILF, which wants an expanded Muslim region in the south, fell apart last month. Separatist struggle MILF has been waging 30-year guerrilla war for separate Islamic state in south of largely Christian Philippines Conflict has killed more than 120,000 people Separatists signed ceasefire with government in 2003 to open way for peace talks Both sides initialled draft agreement for recognition of MILF's 'ancestral domain' in south in July But agreement on size of Muslim homeland and future government's powers halted amid protests by Mindanao Catholic politicians Supreme court suspended draft accord, raising new tensions and re-igniting fighting that had been mostly dormant since 2003 Gloria Arroyo, the Philippine president, dissolved a government peace panel negotiating with the MILF last week, saying the government would no longer negotiate with the separatists. Scores of civilians have been killed and more than half a million people have lost their homes and livelihoods since the peace process broke down. With mounting civilian casualties and a growing refugee crisis, the military operations may be turning the people in the south against the government. MILF leaders have said the three commanders are out of their control, but the government says peace talks cannot resume until they are in custody. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which is already identifying new evacuation centres in case of a larger exodus of civilians from the conflict zone, has appealed to fighters and troops not to harm civilians as they battle each other in the worst fighting in the southern Philippines since 2003.
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