More than 41,000 people have fled their homes because of fighting in southern Philippines

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines, February 16 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Muslim fighters on the run from a military offensive attacked a military post in the southern Philippines Sunday, February 16, wounding at least four soldiers, the military said.

Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters fired anti-tank rockets into the First Marine Brigade near the town of Parang in Maguindanao province, officials at the military's southern command said, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Sunday's hostilities came a day after troops captured a sprawling MILF enclave called Buliok Complex after five days of fighting that left nearly 200 people dead.

Army spokesman Major Julieto Ando said troops Sunday also discovered an abandoned single-story building believed to be the nerve center for the MILF, from where rebel leader Hashim Salamat had been issuing his commands.

The concrete building had an office, prayer room, a library and living quarters.

"There were documents that we gathered from the site and we are studying them because of the possibility of the linkages between the MILF and the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden," Ando said.

Fighting between government troops and Muslim insurgents raged Saturday for the fifth straight day in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao with the death toll exceeding 200.

President Gloria Arroyo had ordered troops to capture the complex allegedly used as a haven by “terrorist groups and kidnap gangs” sheltered by the MILF, a 12,000-strong force waging a 24-year rebellion in the south.

However, MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu denied his group was sheltering outlaw groups and said this was merely an excuse to justify the military's assault on the rebels despite a ceasefire signed by both sides in 2001 to open the way for peace talks.

Western intelligence reports have linked the MILF to foreign “terrorists”, a claim denied by the rebels. But it has acknowledged having trained foreign Islamic militants in its camps in the past, including those from the Jemaah Islamiyah regional group, which has been blamed for the deadly Bali bombings in October.

Armed forces southern command chief Lieutenant General Narciso Abaya said soldiers had set up a command post in the complex, but troops remained on heightened alert to prevent attacks by MILF fighters who have broken up into smaller units as they escaped.

"We are still in heightened alert. The threats are still there," Abaya said.

"We are now in control of the complex. We have flushed out the rebels, terrorists and kidnappers and lawless groups," he said.

"Soldiers are now conducting a massive clearing operation and they are searching for bodies, weapons and booby traps, but military operations still continue against lawless elements in other areas," Abaya added.

Only 43 Muslim fighter bodies had been found so far, but the rising death toll made the hostilities the most serious flare-up of the 25-year-old MILF rebellion since 2000, when the military seized more than 40 MILF camps.

More than 41,000 people have fled their homes because of fighting this week, relief workers said. At least three children have died of illnesses in evacuation centers.

MILF military commander Muhammad Murad said in another television interview in Manila that "the solution is to talk, but we can't talk if the atmosphere is not conducive."