Government troops killed seven rouge Muslim rebels in a clash Sunday in the southern Philippines, the military reported Monday, according to Xinhua.
Lt. Col. Jonathan Ponce, spokesman of the Army's 6th Division, told reporters that the clashes erupted after some 80 followers of Ameril Umbra Kato, a field commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), stormed the army detachments in two towns in Maguindanao province Sunday morning.
Ponce said seven rebels were killed while the troops also overran a rebel camp in return.
On Saturday, troops killed 30 rebels in their ongoing operation in the gas and oil-rich wetlands in Guindulungan town of Maguindanao.
The military launched an offensive against the radical MILF rebels, including Kato, last August after the latter attacked some towns and villages in the southern region of Mindanao, forcing around 57,000 families in Maguindanao to flee their homes
The MILF has been fighting for decades to establish an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines.
Peace talks between the government and the 11,800-member MILF collapsed in August 2008 after the two sides failed to sign a territory agreement as scheduled.