Philippine rebels kill two police officers in south

MANILA, Aug 11 (Reuters) Muslim rebels shot and killed two policemen who entered their camp in the southern Philippines with an arrest warrant for a suspected Indonesian militant, officials said today.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is holding peace talks with Manila about creating a Muslim homeland in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic country but has long been suspected of links to Jemaah Islamiah, the regional franchise of al Qaeda.

A local police superintendent said a 10-member police team was ambushed on Thursday when they crossed into MILF territory in Pikit town with an arrest warrant for Maruan, a suspected JI member believed to be hiding in a MILF camp.

''Our boys were on a legitimate police operation,'' Federico Dulay told reporters.

But Eid Kabalu, a rebel spokesman, said the MILF guerrillas were defending themselves from an armed group that stormed their camp at dawn.

''They entered the community without proper coordination with the MILF ceasefire panel,'' Kabalu told reporters. ''There was no person named Maruan living in that area. We are not keeping any Muslim militant in our communities.'' Last month, a group of local police officers gunned down a senior MILF field commander in Pikit town on suspicion that he was the alleged JI leader on the southern island of Mindanao.

REUTERS PB BS1251