As they fled, the MILF rebels released scores of villagers, bus commuters and several policemen they had held hostage since they attacked Thursday, local military commander Col. Ernesto Boac said.
About 500 MILF fighters took the people hostage and attacked government installations, blocking the 400-kilometer highway linking Iligan City to Zamboanga City.
Government troops managed to repulse further attacks by the rebels using helicopter gunships.
Officials said the death toll increased to 19 — 12 civilians and seven MILF fighters — while 17 others were wounded in the attacks.
Col. Francisco Simbajon, the local military spokesman, was quoted as saying the bodies of 13 civilians and five MILF fighters were recovered.
Reports also said bodies of other MILF casualties were carried by their fleeing comrades.
Boac said the military is now moving to secure power lines and other communities being targetted by the MILF.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said the guerrillas had withdrawn but denied taking hostages.
"The intention was to attack the military forces in the area," Kabalu said, saying four soldiers were killed in the assault.
He also said many of the civilians allegedly killed in the fighting were mostly village militiamen trying to defend local communities from the rebels. "We do not consider these people as civilians," he said.
Kabalu said MILF commanders on the ground had been given autonomy to attack military and not civilian targets.
Armed Forces Southern Command (Southcom) chief Maj. Gen Roy Kyamco said they will sustain their pursuit operations against the MILF even if formal peace negotiations between the government and the rebels resume.
"For their criminal acts, they should be answerable whether there is negotiation or not," Kyamco said.
Kyamco warned the MILF leaders that the holding of the peace talks does not excuse them from the atrocities they committed.
"We will continue to attack them to (make them) answer for their atrocities against the people," he said.
The Southcom chief denounced the attacks staged by MILF commander Yahyah Lucsadatu in Kulambugan and Maigo towns in Lanao del Norte where the rebels killed 12 civilians and five soldiers.
"They (MILF) were hitting the civilians. Is that what the MILF called active offense, making civilians as their targets?" Kyamco asked, adding that the MILF attempted to capture the town of Maigo but apparently failed. President Arroyo said the government would not be coerced into granting "concessions" in its peace talks with the MILF in terms of launching its latest offensives.
In a statement, Mrs. Arroyo condemned the latest MILF attacks but said the government will still continue efforts to negotiate peace with the separatist rebels.
"This attack is a travesty of the peace process. It shall be met with firm counterforce, active defense of the affected communities and by safeguarding civilians caught in the crossfire," Mrs. Arroyo said.
She said the MILF was apparently "mistaken" in their bid to obtain concessions in the peace negotiations by launching the latest offensives.
"But we shall not be distracted from our main task of peace and development," Mrs. Arroyo said.
In a related development, more than a hundred families fled their homes in Alamada, North Cotabato on threats of renewed attacks by MILF guerrillas.
Alamada Mayor Ernesto Concepcion said they are now trying to broker a dialogue with two MILF commanders and the displaced villagers to stave off hostilities.
MILF rebels were implicated in killing six villagers and wounding three others last week for allegedly refusing to pay revolutionary taxes.
Concepcion said despite their efforts, the two MILF commanders whom he refused to identify did not show up, triggering speculation that the rebels will carry out their threats to attack the villages.
Evacuees from the Upper Valley, New Leon, Palipayen and Togonon villages are now housed in relief centers in Barangay Dado of the town.
Reports said some of the relatives of the slain victims have been gearing up to retaliate against the MILF rebels.
Concepcion said investigators are still determining if the MILF was also behind the slaying of four farmers in the area three weeks ago. – With Marichu Villanueva, John Unson, AFP