(Xinhua) -- The Philippines' largest Islamic rebel group -- the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has officially expelled its renegade field commander behind a massive assault on civilians in the country's south in 2008 that has affected more than 600,000 people, the group said Thursday.Ghadzali Jaafar, MILF's vice chair for political affairs, said Ameril Umra Kato, who formed his own splinter group called Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement (BIFM), is not covered anymore by its ceasefire agreement with the Philippine government.
"We don't care what his (Kato's) group will do. That's the implication of his move. We decided that he is no longer with us," said Jaafar.
The military said earlier it was ready to stage assault against Kato and his followers once he is expelled from the MILF.
Kato, who leads a breakaway force of 200 to 300 fighters, decided to separate from the MILF over his disappointment on the foiled implementation of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain in 2008.
Last December, Kato formalized his separation from the MILF and announced the formation of the BIFM, calling for jihad, or holy war, to establish a separate Mohammedan state in the south of the Philippines.
The MILF has been fighting government troops for decades to establish a self-rule Mohammedan sub-state in the south of the predominantly Catholic country.
Peace talks between the government and the MILF stalled in August 2008 following the aborted signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain. A final peace deal with the government will touch the issues of autonomy and the civil settlement of the rebel group's 11,800-strong guerrilla fighters.