Cotabato City, Philippines - Two government soldiers were wounded in a clash with Muslim separatist rebels in the southern Philippines on Sunday, a military spokesman said. The firefight erupted when patrol troops spotted a group of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels in the village of Kitango in Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Maguindanao province, 960 kilometres south of Manila.
Major Randolph Cabangbang said the guerrillas were led by Ameril Umbra Kato, an MILF commander wanted for leading a series of deadly attacks in several villages in the southern region of Mindanao last August.
Kato has a 15-million-peso (319,000-dollar) bounty on his head.
Nearly 300 people have been killed since the hostilities in Mindanao flared up five months ago. More than 500,000 people were also displaced at the height of the fighting.
Cabangbang said a sergeant and a private were injured in Sunday's clash.
"We fired several rounds of howitzers towards the enemy position to flush them out," he said.
The MILF is the largest Muslim rebel group fighting for a separate Islamic state in Mindanao.
Peace talks between the rebel group and the Philippine government were suspended due to the violence last August, which prompted President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to disband the government's negotiating team.
In December, Arroyo formed a new panel to talk peace with the MILF and efforts are ongoing to get the rebel group back to the negotiating table.
