Manila (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The spiritual leader of the Philippines' largest Muslim rebel group has "banned" Muslim followers from "killing without any reason, even if the target is an unbeliever" and he voiced concern about the possible eruption of new conflicts in Mindanao region.

The words of Ustadz Omar Pasigan, Grand Mufti of the southern archipelago, came as Muslim believers celebrated the end of the sacred month of Ramadan with dawn prayers and gunshots. He urged them to stop anti-government violence and to turn to peace talks.

A recent wave of attacks has threatened the fragile ceasefire in place since 2003 between the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) and the government of the Philippines, the country with the largest number of Catholics. Pasigan is now raising the specter of "possible new violence".

Last week, police charged MILF leader Ebrahim Murad in absentia for his alleged role in three bombings that killed seven people and wounded more than 30 in the south, angering his followers and threatening long-running peace talks. Manila's Secret Services had blamed the attacks on members of Abu Sayyaf ('Bearers of the Sword', a local branch of al-Qaeda, ed.].

Meanwhile, the MILF has accused local political leaders of cooking up evidence against Murad to hinder negotiations aimed at creating a territory for Muslims in the south of the Philippines and putting an end to the conflict that has raged since the sixties and cost the lives of more than 120,000 people.

The Philippines has declared Tuesday, 24 October, a holiday to mark the end of Ramadan but Filipino Muslims, who refer to the festival as "Hariraya Puasa", celebrate today.

A police spokesman in the southern city of Cotabato said small weapons had been fired throughout the night to mark the end of the sacred month but nobody was reported injured. Firing guns is a common practice to mark feast days in the Philippines, where police estimate around 330,000 illegal firearms are in circulation.

In Manila, a jailed Muslim leader who led a revolt in 2001 was given a few hours to pray at a mosque in the capital. Hundreds of Muslims chanted "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) outside the mosque as Nur Misuari – head of the Moro National Liberation Front – asked them to support peace efforts in the south, hoping the government would allow him to go to Saudi Arabia next month to meet the Organisation of the Islamic Conferences.