Many dead in Philippines fighting

At least 27 people, including seven soldiers, have been killed in fighting between Philippine security forces and members of the largest Muslim anti-government group in the south of the country, according to an army spokesman.The Philippine military has been fighting a faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on the island of Mindanao for the last eight months, after the group burned farms and homes in Catholic-dominated towns there.Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Ponce said that soldiers killed about 20 fighters and that dozens more were wounded during an eight-hour battle on Friday near the Liguasan marsh area."We recovered mangled bodies in the area," he said."Some bodies were hanging on tree tops. They got hit by our artillery shelling. But we lost seven men and five were also wounded."