The military is paying civilians to recover the bodies of eight soldiers killed in action in Maguindanao province over the weekend, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front said Wednesday.

A report on the MILF Central Committee on Information Web site said eight Army soldiers were killed during a firefight between government forces and Moro rebels in Bialong village, Shariff Aguak last Sunday. It said the Army is paying P3,000 to P5,000 for every retrieved corpse.

"The eight decomposing bodies of government soldiers found at Barangay Bialong was reported to MILF higher command, and subsequently conveyed to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to facilitate retrieval of the dead soldiers. But the AFP refused to confirm those were government soldiers and pretended that they did not leave behind dead comrades during that Sunday firefight," the report said.

It added that civilians are now looking for the bodies of the dead soldiers to get the reward money.

The MILF report also claimed Moro rebels retrieved several high powered firearms including two M60 machineguns after last Sunday clashes in Pamalian, Pusao, Tina, Bialong, Pikeg and Malingao villages.

The central committee also said a mosque in Barangay Daliao, Maasim, Saranggani at the periphery of former MILF Camp Khalid bin Walid was devastated by artillery shells fired by the military during an assault against MILF fighters.  

The assault started at about 12:15 p.m. while the first sermon was being delivered. The Muslims were not able to complete the prayer.

The military has denied that the assault destroyed the mosque, saying that the there was no mosque there and the MILF were not praying.