At least 14,000 civilians have been forced to leave their homes in the southern Philippines for the safety of makeshift evacuation centres after government troops began shelling suspected strongholds of the Muslim separatist group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (Milf) at the weekend.
Government disaster management officials in Manila said the ground and aerial bombing operations displaced people from six towns in central Mindanao. About 12,000 were staying in schools, gymnasiums, mosques and churches. The rest were living with relatives in other towns, they said.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered the armed forces to launch the offensives on Saturday, shortly before leaving for a state visit to America to meet US President George W. Bush. She said the military operations did not mean an all-out war against the Muslim separatist group as the targets were specific Milf units that had carried out assaults against government and civilian targets in recent weeks.
Armed forces spokesman Lieutenant-General Rodolfo Garcia said the military offensives succeeded in dislodging about 300 Milf members from a rebel stronghold on the outskirts of Munai, a small town in Lanao del Norte province. Other military officials said as many as 70 Muslim guerrillas were killed, though this could not be independently confirmed.
Senior political leaders, even those considered to be Mrs Macapagal's allies, criticised the military operations. Loren Legarda, Senate majority leader, said it was nothing more than a "subterfuge for all-out war".
But in Washington, Mr Bush praised Mrs Macapagal as "a leader in building broader co-operation against terror throughout the Asia-Pacific region". He was speaking at the opening ceremonies of only the third state visit - the first for an Asian - of his presidency.
The US president offered $30m (?26m, £18m) in military training and promised to provide 20 UH-1H helicopters to help the under-equipped Philippine armed forces fight a multi-pronged war against Muslim separatists, communist guerrillas and an assortment of armed groups engaged in criminal activities.
Mr Bush said the US would back the Philippine government whether it decided to wage war on Muslim separatists or restart peace talks with the Milf if the rebel group chose "a peaceful reconciliation" over violence. Mr Bush promised to provide American economic assistance for the war-torn island of Mindanao to help consolidate peace.
While Philippine military officials welcomed the offer of US assistance, analysts said it was considerably less than what the Philippines needed to fight a successful war against armed movements throughout the archipelago.