Fighting between police and Muslim rebels killed at least 30 people in the southern Philippines, where rebels signed a long-awaited peace deal with the government last year.
The clash took place Sunday when police encountered fighters from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), with local officials saying police suffered most of the casualties. Fighting subsided after cease-fire monitors intervened to try to separate the two sides and calm the situation.
Officials said the police were looking for suspected terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir but did not coordinate their movements with the area cease-fire committee.
The government and the MILF agreed to a peace deal last year that ended decades of bloody fighting in exchange for autonomy in southern Muslim provinces.
