A group of Muslim nations condemned attacks by Moro Islamic Liberation Front fighters against civilians in the southern Philippines, saying they had committed "illegitimate acts" that caused the government to abandon a preliminary peace plan.

For decades Muslims in the southern provinces have been fighting for an autonomous homeland.

But indigenous tribes in central Luzon north of the country have sought a more peaceful resolution, and succeeded, to stake a claim to their ancestral domain.

Al Jazeera' s Marga Ortigas reports from Tarlac.