25 killed, 3 missing in fighting

MANILA (AP):

Philippine troops yesterday recovered the bodies of six more soldiers following fierce fighting with the country's largest Muslim rebel group that has sent both sides scrambling to stop the violence from further damaging shaky peace talks.

The daylong fighting on southern Basilan island that erupted Tuesday between army special forces, backed by bomber planes and artillery fire, and members of the 11,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front, has killed 25 combatants and left three soldiers missing. It was some of the deadliest fighting since 2008, when peace talks bogged down and ignited widespread clashes that killed hundreds and displaced 750,000 people.

The rebels have waged a bloody insurgency for self-rule in the southern Mindanao region, the homeland of minority Muslims in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines. The conflict has killed more than 120,000 people in nearly four decades and stunted development of the resource-rich but impoverished south.