Iligan City, Philippines - One soldier was killed and eight were wounded in an ambush by Muslim separatist rebels in the southern Philippines, an army spokesman said Thursday.

The soldiers were attacked Wednesday along a highway in Calanugas town in Lanao del Sur province, 810 kilometres south of Manila, Lieutenant Colonel Agane Adriatico said.

Adriatico, a regional army spokesman, said the soldiers were responding to intelligence reports that 100 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels had occupied parts of the highway.

"There was a reported sighting of MILF rebels in the area, so the troops were deployed to check the area," he said. "However, they were ambushed by the guerrillas."

Adriatico said sporadic clashes between government troops and MILF rebels were continuing in the region.

He said the guerrillas were led by one of two MILF commanders wanted by the government for leading deadly attacks in several provinces in the southern region of Mindanao in August.

The attacks prompted the military to launch an offensive against the guerrillas, triggering the worst fighting between government troops and MILF rebels in five years.

More than 200 people have been killed in the fighting and the military offensive while more than 500,000 people have been displaced since August, the Office of Civil Defence said.

The hostilities erupted after the Supreme Court stopped the signing of an agreement between the MILF and the government that would have expanded an existing autonomous region in Mindanao.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has since scrapped the deal and dissolved the government's peace negotiating team with the MILF.

She also ruled out an immediate resumption of peace talks with the rebel group until the MILF commanders behind the deadly attacks are brought to justice. (dpa)