September 21, 2010: The MILF are reluctant to resume peace talks, and want security forces to stay out of areas where MILF gunmen have camps. This the government is reluctant to do, because Islamic radicals are known to be hiding out with sympathetic MILF gunmen. The MILF wants a third party (preferably Malaysia) to mediate talks.
September 19, 2010: In the south, MILF fighters attacked an army outpost. The MILF denied responsibility for the attack. On Basilan, troops caught up with Abdulkarim Sali, an Abu Sayyaf leader who led the kidnappers who seized 19 people, including two Americans, in 2001. Sali refused to surrender and died in a ten minute gun battle.
September 16, 2010: On Basilan, three soldiers were killed in an Abu Sayyaf ambush. Two terrorists were killed and several wounded.
September 7, 2010: In the south, an Abu Sayyaf was captured after he was lured to the vicinity of a police base. Elsewhere in the south, a bomb exploded in a bus terminal, destroying one bus but not injuring anyone. This is the fourth such attack in the last week.
Some 420 kilometers southeast of the capital, four NPA rebels were killed by soldiers.
