Muslim rebels joyous, but wary, at peace prospects

SULTAN KUDARAT, Philippines: Joyous shouts of "Allahu akbar" echoed across the headquarters of the Philippines' biggest Muslim rebel group as a pact to end four decades of bloodshed was signed, but there were also fears war clouds had yet to pass.

Various armed Muslim groups have been fighting since the 1970s for an independent Islamic state or autonomous rule in the south, which they regard as their ancestral home, and the conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives.