COTABATO CITY, Philippines ? Classes in all elementary and high schools here ground to a halt Wednesday as more than 1,500 teachers and school officials joined a rally condemning a wave of violence that has gripped this city and nearby areas.

Bearing streamers and posters, school administrators and teachers demanded justice for all victims of kidnappings, killings, and other crimes that have been plaguing the city in the past months.

Calling it a ?Day of Protest,? the teachers condemned the bombing near the Immaculate Conception Cathedral that killed six people, including Prince Allen Diaz, a Grade 6 pupil of Sacred Heart Academy and Learning Center, and the killing of an 11-year-old girl during an Army raid on the house of suspects in the July 5 bombing.

?We decided to suspend classes to denounce all forms of violence. We want justice, we want peace,? said Johnny Balawag, Cotabato City division administrative officer of the Department of Education.

?This is too much, we want a peaceful city. We deserve to have peace,? said Cotabato City Councilor Abdullah Andang.

Fr. Eduardo Tanudtanud, OMI, president of the Notre Dame University, said the violence must stop.

?No religion advocates violence. As faithful, we have a lot of things to contribute to the attainment of peace,? he said.

Several teachers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they fear for the lives of children.

?We want security for our children. We want security for ourselves,? the teachers said.

The rally came as teachers of Mohammad Elementary School here cried out for justice for the 11-year-old girl who was killed during an Army raid.

Halima Bansil, 11, of Kabuntalan village, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, was killed when soldiers raided a house on Sunday in search of suspects in the July 5 bombing.

?Halima was a very playful child,? said Hadja Malip Adzal, school principal.

Adzal said Halima crosses the Kakar River every day just to get to school.

?Last Monday she did not report to school,? Adzal said. ?We learned that she died during an Army raid.?

Wahab Untong, chairperson of the village of Kabuntalan, said soldiers, at about 2 a.m. on Sunday, arrived on board at least four motor boats in search of suspects in the bombing.

They took with them Indal Bansil, Halima?s father, and Mohaliden, Halima?s 18-year-old brother. The two were wounded in the raid.

Untong said villagers do not know where the soldiers brought the two men.

Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Ponce, 6th Infantry Division spokesman, confirmed the raid.

The soldiers, he said, arrested three men during that operation and seized explosives and weapons. He did not identify the third man but described the arrested men as rogue members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

?We are investigating the soldiers involved [in the raid],? said Ponce.

Prior to the raid, police announced the arrest of an aide of Ameril Ombra Kato, MILF commander blamed for attacks on civilian communities in retaliation for the failed signing of an agreement that would have expanded territory marked for autonomous rule by the MILF.

Police identified the arrested man as Ismael Ting Omar Manalasal, alias Ismael Mohammad, 32, a resident of Pikit, North Cotabato.

Eid Kabalu, civil-military chief of the MILF, said Mohammad is not Kato?s man but belongs to a command in the MILF that provides security to its leaders.

He added that the MILF has no hand in a spate of bombings in this city and other areas. ?We are being framed,? he said.