MANILA - A SENIOR separatist leader was among seven Muslim guerrillas killed in a clash with government forces in the southern Philippines, the military said on Saturday.

Tolni Salik, a field commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), two of his lieutenants and four other rebels died in the fighting near Guindulungan town on Mindanao island late Thursday, said army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Ponce.

'This is a tactical victory that we gained and a great tactical loss as far as the leadership of the rogue MILF is concerned,' Lieut. Ponce told reporters by telephone from his division's base on Mindanao.

The military alleges Tolni is a senior leader of a hardline MILF faction blamed for pillaging a string of Christian settler communities on Mindanao 10 months ago that left dozens of civilians dead.

The raids, and the military response, displaced more than half a million people and forced President Gloria Arroyo to suspend peace talks.

Philippine officials say the raids were triggered by a court ruling that outlawed a draft peace settlement that would have given the Muslim minority control over large areas of the south.

Ameril Umbrakato and Abdulrahman Macapaar, who are both Salik's superiors in the MILF, remain at large with huge bounties on their heads for allegedly leading the raids. -- AFP