Seven people had been killed in separate fighting in the southern Philippines, where security forces were pursuing members of Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah extremists, officials said yesterday. Two soldiers died after a gunman attacked a military outpost yesterday in Tacurong town of Sultan Kudarat province. The attacker was subsequently killed by pursuing soldiers, said Major Onting Alon, a spokesman for the armyâs 6th Infantry Division. âThe motive of the attack was still unknown,â he said. Alon said four Abu Sayyaf gunmen were also killed and three soldiers wounded in fierce fighting in the jungle village of Tamar in Talayan town, Maguindanao province. The provinces of Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao in the southern island of Mindanao are two of the strongholds of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the biggest Philippine Muslim armed group fighting for an independent Islamic state . A military statement said the MILF, which is engaged in peace talks with the government, is providing valuable information on the location of the Abu Sayyaf rebels. MILF leaders have vowed to help weed out of extremists in Mindanao, who have been blamed for the bombings and kidnapping of foreign tourists and local businessmen and priests in the southern Philippines. The MILF last month ejected Janjalaniâs group from its strongholds in Mindanao as part of confidence-building measures before peace talks with the Philippine government which will resume in Kuala Lumpur this month.