Four people were reported killed and 20 others wounded as guerrillas of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front launched an all-out attack on government positions to ease the pressure on the MILF's base, Camp Abubakar in Maguindanao, which has been under siege by government forces.
MILF deputy chief for military affairs Al Haj Murad ordered the offensive following the rebel group's declaration of a pullout from peace talks with the government.
"You are directed to launch counter-attacks against military positions to ease pressure in Matanog, Maguindanao," Murad told MILF fighters in an interview over a Cotabato radio station.
Military sources said the hostilities were expected to intensify further in the coming days.
The Armed Forces said at least 11 soldiers have been killed and 64 others wounded in the clashes that started last week as the troops cleared the 150-kilometer Narciso Ramos Highway of MILF checkpoints.
Some 70 bodies of slain MILF guerrillas were reportedly recovered along the highway by troops advancing northward.
Some 1,200 families consisting of about 5,400 people reportedly fled their homes to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. The evacuees were from the affected towns of Matanog, Buldon and Barrira in Maguindanao province.
The MILF guerrillas launched the offensive by seizing two villages in North Cotabato where two civilians were reported killed and five others wounded by rockets fired into their homes.
Two of those killed were identified as Estelita Bautista, 70, and a certain Boring, a 27-year-old farmer, whose homes were hit by rifle grenades.
The MILF hierarchy said on Sunday they were withdrawing from the peace negotiations scheduled to resume this month after troops mounted an assault on Camp Abubakar in Matanog.
North Cotabato Gov. Manny Piñol confirmed the attack, saying the MILF guerrillas were blocking a portion of a key highway running through the two villages they had captured.
Piñol said most of those wounded were hit by shrapnel.
The guerrillas reportedly flagged down more than a dozen of private vehicles, and commandeered two passenger buses which they used to block the highway.
A passenger and a conductor of the buses reportedly sustained bullet wounds when the rebels fired on their vehicle.
Army division commander Maj. Julieto Ando said about 700 rebels stormed the two villages in Aleosan town at dawn yesterday.
North Cotabato Rep. Anthony Dequina said the MILF gunmen fired mortars and rocket propelled grenades on the villagers" homes.
"I am appealing to this group to spare the civilians. They can target government forces if they want, but not civilians. That is against the rules of engagement," Dequina said.
In Carmen town, a mother and her daughter were seriously wounded when a mortar shell landed on their house at the town proper.
The rebels alleged fired at least 12 rounds of 81-mm. mortar at the center of the town, while soldiers were clearing a nearby village which the MILF guerrillas have occupied.
The rebels also bombed a bridge in Barangay Bagan in Talayan town in Maguindanao, but the explosive did minimal damage on the structure.
Murad also said they would spare no effort to defend their camp.
"In order to defend our camp, we may stage attacks on government troops to neutralize the attack (on Camp Abubakar), so the fighting might escalate," Murad said.
He added they have no plans to hit civilians. "What we target are the military forces and government facilities."
However, Murad did not totally rule out resumption of the peace talks "if we see government sincerity."
For his part, MILF vice chairman for political affairs Ghazali Jaafar said they were ready to accept tactical support from the Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf in fighting the military.
The MILF said earlier they have established a tie-up with the New People's Army, the armed component of the local communist insurgency movement.
Armed Forces spokesman Col. Rafael Romero said the MILF sent hundreds of additional combatants to reinforce their units positioned along the highway about seven kilometers from Camp Abubakar.
Maj. Gen. Diomedio Villanueva, commander of the Armed Forces' Southern Command (Southcom) based in Zamboanga City, said one soldier was killed and five others were wounded in the clashes in Matanog, raising the death toll on the government side to three since the attack on Camp Abubakar was launched last Monday.
There were no reports of casualties on the MILF side.
Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora said the Cabinet committee on national security has decided to meet daily to assess the Mindanao crisis.
Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, a former Armed Forces chief, said the troops should dismantle Camp Abubakar which was being used by the secessionist guerrillas as nerve center of the armed struggle in Mindanao.
Biazon, chairman of the Senate committee on national defense and security, said the withdrawal of the MILF from the peace talks has freed the government of any restraint in attacking the Muslim rebels.
He said the MILF camps were not touched by the military to give way to the peace talks.
He pointed out that being allowed by the government to maintain their camps gave the Muslim rebels the impression that they were in control of some parts of the country.
"The rebels, however, cannot be allowed to launch offensives and perpetrate criminal acts from the safety of their camps," Biazon said.
He noted that Camp Abubakar and other MILF camps in Mindanao were being used as launching sites for bombings and other terrorist acts by the separatist rebels, such as the recent bombing of a ferry in Ozamis City and the siege on Kauswagan town in Lanao del Norte.
"If the MILF has withdrawn from the peace talks, the government is now justified to use even the military options to dismantle all rebel camps, including Camp Abubakar. I hope both the government and the MILF realize this," Biazon said.
Senate President Pro Tempore Blas Ople said top Iraqi officials have assured him they will not extend support to Muslim rebels in the South to destabilize the Philippine government.
"There is strong disfavor among Arab leaders with what is happening in Mindanao. In my talks with the leaders of Iraq, it is clear that they would not support any effort of the MILF to sow further havoc on innocent civilians," Ople said.
He said the Iraqi officials led by Speaker of the Parliament Saadoun Hammadi, in a message from Baghdad, expressed deep concern over the civil strife in Mindanao.
He also quoted Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz as saying the kidnapping of 20 foreigners and one Filipino in the famous diving resort of Sipadan island in Sabah, Malaysia was "tragic and unfortunate."
The 21 hostages who were seized last Easter Sunday in Sipadan, consisted of 10 Malaysians, three Germans, two French, two South Africans, two Finns, one Lebanese and one Filipina.
They were reportedly guarded by some 500 Abu Sayyaf fighters in a rebel hideout in Talipao town in Sulu.
In nearby Basilan island, Abu Sayyaf rebels were also holding 27 hostages, mostly school children and their teachers, who were snatched from their schools in Sumisip town last March 20.
After relentless bombings, soldiers captured the rebel camp in Sumisip but found no traces of the hostages and their captors. -- With Roel Pareño, Paolo Romero, Perseus Echeminada, wire services