At Least 20 Die as Cops Clash With Cultists

M A L A Y B A L A Y, Philippines, Aug. 12 -- Police and Christian cultists clashed in the southern Philippines after authorities tried to arrest a member of the band, killing at least 20 people, police said today.

Officers traveled to a colony of the Catholic God Spirit in thevillage of Kimanait in Pangantukan, Bukidnon province, late Fridayto arrest a member of the group on attempted murder charges, policesaid.

Fighting began after the cultists, armed with long knives andhomemade guns, refused to yield up the suspect, provincial PoliceChief Edgardo Villamayor said.

Sixteen cult members, including the suspect, were killed, alongwith four civilian militiamen who accompanied the police. Twomilitiamen were wounded, Villamayor said.

Bulletproof Amulets?

Most of the slain cultists wore amulets meant to make thembulletproof, police said.

Cultists in remote areas of the Philippines, a mostly Catholicnation, often combine traditional and Christian beliefs.

These armed groups have for years acted as vigilantes helpingauthorities fight Muslim and Communist insurgents.

ABS-CBN television showed about 15 seconds of footage of theclash: A man in red lying on a dirt road, the earth around himrising in puffs as bullets smack into it, and then another manfalling beside him.

A man with an M-16 rifle fires at close range at a man coming athim with a long knife in hand. The attacker slumps to the ground,tries to rise, but a shot hits him in the head, jerking it back,his long hair flying.

The network said a TV crew accompanied the police team thatserved the arrest warrant.