Sixteen civilians were killed and 10 wounded in an ambush by Muslim separatist guerrillas in the southern Philippine province of north Cotabato, a military commander said on Saturday.

The victims, including a two-year-old boy, were travelling separately in a truck, a mini-bus and a car on a highway near carmen town yesterday when they ran into a roadblock manned by fighters of the Muslim separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), said Colonel Hermogenes Esperon.

As the vehicles stopped, the MILF members made the passengers get out, robbed some of them and forced all of the civilians into the mini-bus before unleashing a hail of gunfire at them, Esperon said.
Rodel Tiburcio, a survivor, said in a radio interview that he dropped to the floor of the mini-bus as the shooting began. The bodies of the others fell on top of him.
Report: Zeenext Bureau