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ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Philippine human rights investigators on Tuesday began a probe of the air strike which killed seven civilians in the restive southern region of Mindanao.

Mosib Tan, municipal administrator of Datu Piang town, said members of the Commission on Human Rights are currently investigating the deaths of a farming couple and their five children.

The Children’s Rehabilitation Center (CRC), a non-government organization helping children in armed conflict cope with trauma, today deplored the military’s aerial attack on civilians in Datu Piang, Maguindanao. As a result, at least 4 children and a pregnant woman were killed in the attack. “The women and children were already fleeing from the military operations in their barangay when they were hit. Would their lives be considered as mere collateral damage?” asked Ma. Esmeralda Macaspac, Executive Director of the CRC. Read more »

MANILA, Philippines - A militant human-rights group chided the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) for continuing clashes in Mindanao even during Ramadan.

Karapatan called on both camps to stop hostilities and go back to the negotiating table despite the dissolution of the government peace panel by Malacañang.

MANILA, Philippines -- Women and children are most affected in the ongoing conflict in Mindanao as evacuation centers are lacking in facilities, adequate food, and medicines, and children continue to experience “psychological trauma,” a group said on Monday.

In the recent months, more than hundred families are being displaced from their homes because of the continuous military operations in their area. Families from rural communities from northern part of the country Abra to the southern part of Sulu are escaping the wrath of military operations conducted of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on areas perceived to be lair of communist insurgents or Moslem separatist. Read more »