4 separatist rebels killed in southern Philippines clash

Four separatist rebels have been killed in a clash with government troops in the restive southern Philippines, the military said on Thursday. Fighting erupted shortly before noon on Wednesday when the government troops encountered at least 50 rouge Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels in the remote village of Sabakan, North Kabuntalan, Maguindanao Province, said Colonel Jonathan Ponce, a local Army spokesperson. Ponce said the rebels were under Commander Ameril Umbra Kato, who has a 283,000-U.S. dollar bounty for his arrest after he led a series of attacks on civilian communities in the region last year, Xinhua reported. "Four rebels were killed in the fighting. Our men recovered two radios, anthena and subversive documents left behind by fleeing guerrillas," Ponce said. Early this week, eight rebels died in air strikes by the Philippine Air Force against MILF guerrillas in the marshy areas of same town. Peace talks between the government and the MILF, which is brokered by Malaysia, collapsed in August 2008 after the two sides failed to sign an agreement on ancestral domain, prompting several MILF commanders and their men to launch deadly attacks on mostly Christian communities in Mindanao.