Manila  - President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo cancelled a scheduled trip to the strife-torn southern Philippines Friday due to a series of bombings and clashes in the area.

Presidential spokesman Jesus Dureza said military commanders prevailed upon Arroyo not to push through with her visit to Shariff Kabunsuan province, 960 kilometres south of Manila, due to bomb attacks.

A day before Arroyo's visit, a bomb exploded on a roadside in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Shariff Kabunsuan, near the airport where Arroyo's plane was supposed to land. There were no casualties in the explosion.

Arroyo was supposed to visit the province to witness the setting up of mobile rice-buying stations to ensure a stable supply of the staple grain.

Hostilities between the military and Muslim separatist rebels flared in August when the guerrillas launched a series of attacks in the southern region of Mindanao.

More than 200 people were killed and more than 500,000 displaced in the rebel attacks and subsequent clashes between government troops and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The MILF attacks were launched after the Supreme Court stopped the signing of a territory deal that would have expanded an existing Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao.

Arroyo dissolved the peace panel negotiating with the MILF after the hostilities and vowed not to resume negotiations until those responsible for the attacks were brought to justice.

Last month, she named a new chief government negotiator in an initial step towards restarting the stalled peace talks with the MILF, which has been fighting for a separate Islamic state since 1978. (dpa)