Philippines says 30 Muslim rebels killed in south

MANILA, Sep 6 (Reuters) The Philippine military said today troops killed 30 Muslim rebels on the southern island of Jolo in a battle earlier this week with Abu Sayyaf militants, who have ties to the regional group Jemaah Islamiah (JI).

Six Marines were also killed and 20 wounded in the battle on Monday, one of the heaviest days of fighting in the latest campaign to flush out militants on Jolo, an Abu Sayyaf stronghold.

The army commander in the southwestern Philippines, Major-General Eugenio Cedo, warned of the potential for bombings in urban centres on Mindanao, a larger island to the east that is home to four Muslim rebel groups and communist guerrillas.

''We don't have specific information on the Abu Sayyaf targets but we've alerted our troops in Mindanao against possible attacks to divert our attention from pursuing militants on Jolo,'' Cedo said.

Since late July, about 5,000 soldiers have been fighting at least 200 Abu Sayyaf members on Jolo, where the group's leaders are believed to be hiding with two Indonesians suspected of carrying out the 2002 Bali bombings.

The Abu Sayyaf's leader, Khaddafy Janjalani, is suspected of sheltering Umar Patek and Dulmatin, Indonesian members of JI, which seeks an Islamic superstate in parts of Southeast Asia.

''They had many casualties,'' Lieutenant Romulo Dimayuga told reporters from his hospital bed at a military camp in Manila, narrating how his platoon of Marines penetrated a rebel camp on Jolo at dawn on Monday.

''Like logs, they fell down one after the other as we exploded grenades and raked them with automatic gunfire. I guess more than 30 of them were killed in the initial burst.'' Dimayuga said his team of 27 soldiers stumbled upon about 40 rebels on the slopes of mountains near Patikul town and attacked while the militants were making breakfast.

Over the next three hours, he said, the number of rebels grew, nearly encircling the soldiers. It was at that point the troops realised they had met up with the main group of rebels.

Dimayuga said only two of his men escaped the battle unscathed, adding his platoon was saved by artillery fire and rockets from two helicopter gunships.

The government of the mainly Catholic Philippines, supported by Washington, wants to stop its remote islands from being used as bases by JI and Abu Sayyaf, which is blamed for the 2004 bombing of a ferry near Manila that killed more than 100 people.

On Jolo, 14 soldiers and police officers have been killed since Aug 1, with rebel casualties estimated at nearly 50.

This week, Manila will resume peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the largest Muslim rebel group in the southern Philippines, to try to end an insurgency that has killed more than 120,000 people over nearly four decades.

REUTERS SSC MIR RN1721