ZAMBOANGA - Muslim separatist rebels who earlier kidnapped eight people, raided villages in the southern Philippine island of Basilan as troops pursued them, a military official said Saturday.

Six children who were kidnapped along with two adults from their homes on Friday escaped or were abandoned by the gunmen, said Brigadier General Rustico Guerrero.

The kidnappers, members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), still held the adults, he said.

The armed men raided villages on the outskirts of Isabela City in Basilan on Friday, killing one person and seizing the hostages. They proceeded to other villages but the residents had fled.

Guerrero, head of Marine forces in Basilan, said the MILF fighters were raiding homes for extortion purposes, adding that his troops were in pursuit.

Senior MILF commander Eid Kabalu previously denied knowledge of the incident.

The 12,000-member MILF has been waging a decades-old insurgency to set up a Muslim state in the southern Philippines, where Christian settlers now outnumber the original inhabitants.

A ceasefire is supposedly in place between the government and the MILF but rebel commanders last year launched attacks on Christian communities.