Members of the Philippine Marines rest on a road pavement on the fourth day of a government stand-off with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebels in downtown Zamboanga city in southern Philippines September 12, 2013. REUTERS/Erik De Castro
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Reuters) - Fighting between security forces and rogue Muslim rebels seeking to declare an independent state escalated in a southern Philippine city on Thursday and spread to a second island, officials said.
U.S.-trained commandos exchanged gunfire with a breakaway faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) holding dozens of hostages in Zamboanga City, on the southernmost island of Mindanao, army spokesman Domingo Tutaan said.
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