Muslim leader Nur Misuari on Monday declared war on the government as his men attacked several army outposts in the southern Philippines, triggering fierce fighting but no immediate reports of casualties.
The skirmishes raged through the morning, punctuated by mortar fire directed at a major army base in the island of Jolo, but fighting died down around noon (0400 GMT), military officials said.
Misuari aide Abdurahman Jamasali said in a telephone interview that Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) gunmen staged the attacks to prevent the holding of elections in a Muslim self-rule area on November 26.
The planned polls, which could see Misuari's exit as governor of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), are a "violation" of the September 1996 peace pact that ended the MNLF's 24-year guerrilla war for secession, Jamasali claimed.
Fighter planes and helicopters raced to Jolo after MNLF fighters seized a number of army outposts in the island and rained mortars on the army's 104th Infantry Brigade headquarters.
Soldiers fought back with artillery.
"More than a dozen shells landed in the vicinity of the camp, but there were no reports of casualties and the military is in full control of the situtation," military southern command operations chief Colonel Roland Detabali said.
The military alleges the Misuari forces have struck an alliance with the Abu Sayyaf Muslim guerrilla group, who they say also took part in the attacks.
"The report we received is that the perpetrators are the MNLF faction of ARMM governor Nur Misuari," military spokesman Brigadier General Edilberto Adan said in Manila.
"Our forces are fighting back and some of our forces have consolidated themselves," he added.
Reinforcements were to be sent to Jolo to thwart the attacks, which is "a deliberate plan to show to the government that the MNLF still has teeth", Adan said.
MNLF forces in nearby Zamboanga city were also "making their presence felt" by brandishing their firearms and scaring civilians, he added.
Jamasali denied military allegations that the MNLF gunmen were fighting alongside the Abu Sayyaf, but claimed some of the more than 7,500 MNLF members who joined the army and the police after the agreement had now declared their support for Misuari.
The Abu Sayyaf is a small Muslim faction holding captive a US couple and a Filipina nurse and has been linked by the military to Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the September 11 terror attacks in the US.
MNLF members loyal to Misuari had launched "simultaneous attacks" in Jolo as well as the cities of Cotabato and Marawi and the town of Pikit in the main southern island of Mindanao, Jamasali said.
Commission on Elections officials said a grenade blast ripped out the ceiling of the watchdog agency's office there on Sunday night in Cotabato.
Members of the MNLF's executive council however said Misuari no longer controlled the group after he was stripped in May of his powers as chairman and only commands a small following of about 300 fighters.
"He does not want the new elections. As far as the executive council is concerned, he no longer has any role because he was ousted," MNLF executive council member Abou Amri Taddik told AFP.
He said Misuari "has done nothing in the past five years" as governor of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, which includes Jolo, after the 1996 peace deal.
"He neglected the problems of the Muslims," Taddik said.
President Gloria Arroyo, now visiting the United States, is supporting a candidate from Taddik's faction of the MNLF.
Adan urged government prosecutors to review previous public statements made by Misuari, saying he might have incited MNLF men to rise up. "Inciting to rebellion is a criminal offence," he said.
Arroyo is holding talks with leaders of the other major Muslim separatist insurgency in the south, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front -- Philippines (AFP)
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