Government forces in the southern Philippines have launched an offensive against Muslim rebels as fighting escalates in this part of Asia’s largest Catholic country.
In the city of Zamboanga commandos exchanged fire with a breakaway faction of the Moro National Liberation Front who are holding dozens of hostages.
Some 13,000 people have been forced to leave their homes.
A short boat ride from Zamboanga, an unidentified group reportedly launched a separate attack on a town on the island of Basilan.
The government pledged to defend Lamitan City, a Catholic enclave in the poor and mainly Muslim region of the southern Philippines.
