At least 27 people were killed, including seven soldiers, and dozens were wounded when troops battled about 80 members of the Philippines' largest Muslim rebel group in the south yesterday.
Philippine troops have been fighting a rogue faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on the southern island of Mindanao for nearly eight months after the renegade rebel forces burned farms and homes in Catholic-dominated towns in the south.
Troops killed about 20 rebels and dozens were wounded during an eight hour battle near Liguasan marsh, said army spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Ponce.
"We recovered mangled bodies in the area," Lt Col Ponce told reporters. "Some bodies were hanging on treetops. They got hit by our artillery shelling. But we lost seven men and five were also wounded."
Ponce said troops were still on clearing operations and were chasing remnants of an 80-member renegade group that were in the area. "Based on our intelligence, this group was planning to attack villages so we pre-empted them," he added.
Nearly 500 people have been killed in clashes since August last year when peace talks between the government and the MILF bogged down after Manila's high court scrapped a proposed deal carving a larger ancestral homeland for Muslims in the south.
Disgruntled rebels attacked Catholic-dominated towns on the southern island of Mindanao, burning homes and farms and killing dozens of civilians. The military launched an offensive against the rebels, forcing a team of peace monitors from Brunei, Libya, Japan and Malaysia to withdraw to safety. Later, the Malaysians pulled out when talks collapsed.
Manila is now trying to restart talks, forming a new peace negotiating panel and asking Malaysia to call for talks between the government and the rebels.
The MILF has been fighting for self-determination for nearly 40 years. The conflict has killed 120,000 people and displaced two million. At the height of fighting last year, nearly 700,000 people were also forced to abandon their homes and farms.
Reuters