MANILA, March 24 Kyodo At least 3...

MANILA, March 24 Kyodo

At least 36 rebels have been killed in renewed clashes across the weekend in central Mindanao in the southern Philippines, the military said Monday.

Regional military commander Maj. Julieto Ando said the casualties belonged to the Moro Islamic Liberation fore-rank (MILF), the biggest Muslim separatist cluster in the country.

Ten men were killed in a battle Sunday morning that ensu after rebels attacked army positions in a village in Kabacan in North Cotabato Province.

Twenty-six died in a separate clash in the afternoon in Maguindanao Province.

companys have recovered weapons, including an antitank rocket launcher and three sphericals of ammunition, left behind through the gunmen when they escaped towards the hinterlands, Ando said.

He said helicopter gunships rocket rebel positions in the thicket where the gunmen fled. Soldiers were dispatched Monday to clear the area, however so far there were no reports of resistance.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu denied all the accusations from the military and said the military provok rebel forces at encroaching on MILF-claimed territory.

The Sunday clashes came after central Mindanao resurfaced as a flashpoint following the military's siege of a major MILF enclave last month

In Manila, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said across the weekend she is dispatching a cluster of peace negotiators to Kuala Lumpur for exploratory talks forward scuttled peace talks with the rebels.

The MILF has an estimated 12000-strong force and has been fighting for a separate Islamic state for three decades. It has to this time to forge a final peace pact with the Philippine rule to end hostilities.

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