Dozens of police officers killed in the Philippines after fighting rebels

Military officials say that at least 30 people were killed during fighting on Sunday between police and Muslim rebels in the Philippines.

Officials in Mamasapano said 27 police officers and five rebels were killed, while seven other police officers were missing and eight had been captured by rebels, Reuters reports. An army spokesman said the police were trying to arrest Zulkifli bin Hir, a bomb expert from Malaysia with a $5 million bounty on his head.

The skirmish is likely to strike a blow to an agreement that the government reached last March with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Their deal — which involved Moro giving up its weapons and the government giving the Muslim minority more economic and political power — brought to an end 45 years of conflict that left 120,000 dead and two million displaced.

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