Philippines, Jan 06, 2009: The new Philippine government peace panel on the Muslim insurgency in the south said Tuesday (January 6) that it is ready to negotiate with the country's largest Muslim rebel group without preconditions, the Manila Times reported. The panel was reformed last month after the government had disbanded it following outbreaks of large-scale violence between the military and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the south in mid-August. Muslim rebels have been fighting for an autonomous homeland in the south of the Catholic-majority country since the 1960s but the MILF began peace talks with the government in 2001 and agreed to a ceasefire in 2003 that largely held until August, when the Supreme Court suspended the signing of an agreement to create the homeland. Break-away factions of the MILF then invaded several villages in Mindanao, leading the military to move in and launch an offensive that is still ongoing, although it has slowed in recent weeks. Both sides have said they would like to restart peace talks, but only under conditions the other side has refused to meet. On Tuesday, the chairman of the new peace panel, Rafael Seguis, said the government is ready to move forward without preconditions if the MILF is prepared to do the same, according to the Manila Times. He said the two sides would have to decide on the role of Malaysia, which has hosted and brokered the peace talks for the last seven years, as well as the composition of the International Monitoring Team responsible for overseeing the ceasefire. Meanwhile, military and rebel spokespersons said an air force bomber dropped a bomb targeting about 100 MILF rebels who were gathering in Kalamansig, a town in Mindanao's Sultan Kudarat province, on Tuesday, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). The military said the rebels were planning an attack on soldiers in the area so the military called in a pre-emptive strike. MILF spokesperson Eid Kabalu confirmed the attack, but denied the militants were plotting an attack and said there were no casualties. The military said soldiers had spotted at least 10 dead bodies, AFP reported. Local officials said about 500 residents fled Kalamansig. At the height of the recent conflict more than 600,000 people were displaced across several eastern provinces of Mindanao. Dozens of militants, civilians and soldiers have died in the clashes.