Six people were killed and hundreds of civilians fled their homes as fighting raged between two Muslim rebel commanders in the southern Philippines, officials said Wednesday.
Military officers said they were protecting civilians in the troubled island of Mindanao but had avoided getting involved in the fighting, leaving it to the rebel leadership and government negotiators to settle the conflict.
"There is sporadic fighting still going on there. We hear gunfire. It is still quite dangerous," local military spokesman Colonel Prudencio Asto said.
The Philippine government does not expect the violence to affect peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), but it has relayed its concern to the rebel leadership, a spokesman for President Benigno Aquino said.
"We believe that this should not hamper our discussions and negotiations with the MILF," Aquino spokesman Edwin Lacierda told reporters.
MILF Commander Adzmie began exchanging gunfire and mortar shells with Commander Abunawas of a breakaway Muslim rebel group days ago.
The groups are fighting over a "longstanding land dispute", said MILF vice chairman Ghadzali Jaafar.
Brigadier General Ariel Bernardo, head of a military panel engaged in talks with the MILF, said at least 210 families have fled the fighting and taken refuge in government evacuation centres.
He said four MILF militants and two belonging to the Abunawas faction have been killed in the fighting.
The 12,000-strong MILF, the country's main Muslim rebel group, continues to engage in violence despite agreeing a ceasefire with the government last year.
The group's three-decade long rebellion, which has claimed 150,000 lives, was initially aimed at setting up an independent Muslim state in Catholic-dominated Mindanao, but is now focused on winning autonomy.
