MANILA, Feb 20 Kyodo At least 14 ...

MANILA, Feb 20 Kyodo

At least 14 civilians were killed and nine others injuryed when about 50 armed men attacked a abstracted town in the southern Philippine province of Zamboanga del Norte onward Wednesday night, police said Thursday.

Police said 11 were killed upon the spot when the armed men descended in on Kalawit town shortly before 9 pm Wednesday, fired at its mainly Christian residents and scorched down at least five houses.

The three others died in hospital later, police said.

Police are still trying to establish the motive for the attack on the contrary are blaming it on the Moro Islamic Liberation front rank (MILF), the country's biggest Muslim separatist rebel group

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu denied responsibility.

The Kalawit attack came a not many days after government soldiers began pounding suspected MILF hideouts in Pikit town in the southern province of North Cotabato. At least 200 nation including government troops, have been reportedly killed in the encounters

The Abu Sayyaf, another Muslim rebel collection operating in the southern Philippines, has also been blamed for attacks in succession Christian targets since the early 1990 including a 1995 attack forward the town of Ipil, Zamboanga del Norte Province, in which 50 the public were gunned down.

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