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March 1, 2010, New York Times, Rebels Suspected in Philippine Attack on Civilians, by Carlos H. Conde,

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March 1, 2010, New York Times, Rebels Suspected in Philippine Attack on Civilians, by Carlos H. Conde,

MANILA -- Eleven people, at least three of them children, were killed in an attack that the authorities in the Philippines say was a retaliation by the Abu Sayyaf militant group for the recent arrests and deaths of several of group's leaders and members.

Officials said Sunday that about 70 members of Abu Sayyaf strafed several houses early Saturday in a southern village called Tubigan, in the Basilan Province, an island in Mindanao where the group began.

The police said that 11 had been killed, including a 1-year-old, and that 17 others, including four children, had been seriously wounded in the attack. The attackers also burned down several houses. The attack was among the worst against civilians in nearly a decade, officials said.

Lt. Steffani Cacho, an army spokeswoman, said the attack might have been a ''retaliatory action'' by Abu Sayyaf after several of its leaders and members were either killed or arrested in a series of military and police operations in the past two weeks.

She added, however, that it could also have been prompted by a clan feud, which are common in many Muslim areas in Mindanao, the area in the south where most Filipino Muslims reside.

Bienvenido Latag, police chief for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, where Basilan is located, said the attackers had burned down the house of Leleng Laping, a chieftain of Tubigan village. Two of Mr. Laping's children died in the fire. Mr. Latag said the victims had been asleep at the time of the attack.

Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, a military spokesman, said the attack could have been in retaliation for the killing last year of Albader Parad, the leader of Abu Sayyaf, and the arrest of others in recent weeks. One of those arrested was involved, the police said, in the 2001 kidnapping and murder of dozens of tourists in a resort in Palawan, in the western Philippines.

Two of the victims, both Americans, were subsequently killed.

Officials said that two Chinese citizens and a Filipino had been rescued from Abu Sayyaf in Basilan the day before the Saturday attack.

Abu Sayyaf is thought to have originated in Basilan, a largely Muslim island. In 2002, as part of its war against terrorism, the United States sent hundreds of its troops to help the Philippines vanquish the group. Although officials said the effort drastically cut Abu Sayyaf's members from about 1,200 in 2002 to about 400 at present, the group remains a threat in the province.

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