Manila - More than 100 Muslim secessionist rebels were killed in clashes with Philippine troops last year, a military spokesman said Tuesday.

Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Torres said 101 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas have been confirmed killed in 2008 and the number could increase as the military continue to verify casualty figures.

"There may be more but of course it is still subject to validation," he said.

Torres, however, conceded that while the MILF forces have been somewhat degraded in the strife-torn southern region of Mindanao, the guerrilla group remains a force to be reckoned with in the area.

Fighting between government troops and the MILF intensified in August after the Supreme Court stopped the signing of a key territory agreement that would have expanded the existing autonomous Muslim region in Mindanao.

Torres said that since August 54 soldiers and pro-government militiamen were killed and 207 more were wounded.

The 12,0000-strong MILF has been fighting for an independent Islamic state in Mindanao since the late 1970s. The group entered into peace negotiations with the government in 1997. (dpa)