The military has asked the government to quickly replenish ammunition stockpiles as supplies were running low after nearly two weeks of fighting Moro rebels, according to documents seen by Reuters on Friday.

Maj. Gen. Jerry Jalandoni, chief of military logistics, said in a letter that stockpiles of artillery shells, mortars, grenades and rockets needed to be boosted within the next 30-60 days "to address the critical stock level of various ammunitions".

"The current conditions in the area have made it become more evident that the ammunition requirements have become more pronounced," Jalandoni said in the letter to the defense department on August 22.

Since early last week, troops have been shelling positions occupied by rogue members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the south of the country, using up hundreds of rounds of 105mm howitzer.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro approved buying of fresh munitions worth $38 million last month, but usually such purchases can take months to come through under the regular process.

Nearly 200 people have been killed and close to 400,000 people have fled to safety in the fighting, leaving peace negotiations with the MILF hanging in the balance.

Malaysia has brokered the talks aimed at ending the Muslim rebellion that has dragged in the south of the Christian majority nation for decades, preventing significant development of some of the richest mineral and hydrocarbon resources in Southeast Asia.

On Thursday, Kuala Lumpur announced it would keep its peace monitors in the violence-torn Mindanao region in the southern Philippines for another three months after appeals from both Manila and the MILF.

Malaysia has a dozen unarmed peace monitors on Mindanao after pulling out 29 members of the team in May due to delays in the peace talks. The team also has 10 troops from Brunei, eight from Libya and one development worker from Japan.